• “ * -Mr*;;
BRITISH SCHOOL OF ARCHAEOLOGY
IN EGYPT
AND EGYPTIAN RESEARCH ACCOUNT
EIGHTEENTH YEAR, 1912
THE
LABYRINTH
GERZEH
AND
MAZGHUNEH
W. M. FLINDERS PETRIE
G. A. WAINWRIGHT
AND
E. MACKAY
LON DON
SCHOOL OF ARCHAEOLOGY IN EGYPT
UNIVERSITY COLLEGE, GOWER STREET, W.C.
AND
BERNARD QUARITCH
11, GRAFTON STREET. NEW BOND STREET, W.
1912
A
EL GERZEH. PRE-DYNASTIC BURIALS.
< • r
m
<
jjd
BRITISH SCHOOL OF ARCHAEOLOGY IN EGYPT
AND EGYPTIAN RESEARCH ACCOUNT
EIGHTEENTH YEAR, 1912
THE LABYRINTH
GERZEH AND
MAZGHUNEH
BY
W. M. FLINDERS PETRIE
Hon. D.C.L., LL.D., Litt.D., Ph.D.
F.R.S., F.B.A., Hon. F.S.A. (Scot.), A.R.I.B.A.
MEMBER OF THE ROYAL IRISH ACADEMY
MEMBER OF THE IMPERIAL GERMAN ARCHAEOLOGICAL INSTITUTE
CORRESPONDING MEMBER OF THE SOCIETY OF ANTHROPOLOGY, BERLIN
MEMBER OF THE ITALIAN SOCIETY OF ANTHROPOLOGY
MEMBER OF THE ROMAN SOCIETY OF ANTHROPOLOGY
MEMBER OF THE SOCIETY OF NORTHERN ANTIQUARIES
MEMBER OF THE AMERICAN PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY
EDWARDS PROFESSOR OF EGYPTOLOGY, UNIVERSITY OF LONDON
G. A. WAIN WRIGHT, B.A.
AND
E. MACKAY
LONDON
SCHOOL OF ARCHAEOLOGY IN EGYPT
UNIVERSITY COLLEGE, GOWER STREET, W.C.
BERNARD QUARITCH
11, GRAFTON STREET, NEW BOND STREET, W.
1912
PRINTED BY
HAZELL, WATSON AND VINEY, LD.,
LONDON AND AYLESBURY.
BRITISH SCHOOL OF ARCHAEOLOGY IN EGYPT
AND EGYPTIAN RESEARCH ACCOUNT
patrons:
VISCOUNT KITCHENER, Q.C.B., O.M., O.C.S.I., etc., etc.
THE EARL OF CROMER, Q.C.B., Q.C.M.Q., K.C.S.I., etc., etc.
GENERAL COMMITTEE (•Executive Members )
Lord Avebury
•Prof. Ernest Gardner
•J. G. Milne
Walter Baily
Prof. Percy Gardner
Sir C. Scott Moncrieff
Henry Balfour
Rt. Hon. Sir G. T. Goldie
Robert Mond
Freiherr von Bissing
Prof. Gowland
Prof. Montague
Dr. T. G. Bonney
Mrs. J. R. Green
Walter Morrison
Prof. R. C. Bosanquet
Mrs. F. Ll. Griffith
•Miss M. A. Murray
Rt. Hon. James Bryce
Dr. A. C. Haddon
Prof. P. E. Newberry
Prof. J. B. Bury
Jesse Haworth
F. W. Percival
•Somers Clarke
Dr. A. C. Headlam
Dr. Pinches
Edward Clodd
•Sir Robert Hensley (Chairman)
Dr. G. W. Prothero
Prof. Boyd Dawkins
D. G. Hogarth
Dr. G. Reisner
Prof. Sir S. Dill
Sir H. H. Howorth
Sir W. Richmond
•Miss Eckenstein
Baron A. von Hugel
Prof. F. W. Ridgeway
Dr. Gregory Foster
Prof. Macalister
Mrs. Strong
Dr. J. G. Frazer
Dr. R. W. Macan
Mrs. Tirard
•Dr. Alan Gardiner
Prof. Mahaffy
E. Towry Whyte
Honorary Treasurer — *H. Sefton-Jones
Honorary Director —Prof. Flinders Petrie
Honorary Secretaries — Mrs. Hilda Petrie and *Dr. J. H. Walker
Bankers —The Anglo-Egyptian Bank.
The need of providing for the training of students is even greater in Egypt than it
is in Greece and Italy; and the relation of England to Egypt at present makes it the
more suitable that support should be given to a British School in that land. This body is
the only such agency, and is also the basis of the excavations of Prof. Flinders Petrie, who
has had many students associated with his work in past years. The great enterprise of the
excavation of the temples and city of Memphis, which is continued year by year, promises the
most valuable results. The opportunity is now granted by His Highness the Khedive of
also excavating the great temple of Heliopolis, which is of the first importance historically.
These labours will necessarily be far more costly than any other work in Egypt, and they
cannot be suitably carried out without increasing the present income of the School. Active
support is required to ensure the continuance of such work, which depends entirely on personal
contributions, and each subscriber receives the annual volume. The antiquities not retained
by the Egyptian Government are presented to Public Museums, after the Annual Exhibition,
in June and July, at University College. The accounts are audited by a Chartered Accountant,
and published in the Annual Report. Treasurer: H. Sefton-Jones.
ADDRESS THE HON. SECRETARY,
BRITISH SCHOOL IN EGYPT, UNIVERSITY COLLEGE,
GOWER STREET, LONDON, W.C
CONTENTS
EL GERZEH
CHAPTER I
THE SITE OF EL GERZEH
SECT. PAGE
1. Outline of the work.i
2. The prehistoric cemetery . . . . I
3. The dynastic cemetery.2
CHAPTER II
THE SEQUENCE DATING
4. Dating uniform in country .... 2
5. Additions to dating.2
6. New types of pottery.3
CHAPTER III
THE BURIALS
7. Types of graves.4
8. Proportion of children. 5
9. Orientation and position .... 5
10. Cloth and weaving.6
11. Use of cloth. 6
12. Condition of remains.7
13. Objects with bodies.7
14. Trench of ashes.8
15. Dynastic burials.8
CHAPTER IV
EVIDENCES OF MUTILATION OF BODIES
16. Special cases.8
17. Various mutilated burials .... 9
18. Nature and purpose of mutilation ... 9
CHAPTER V
THE RITUAL OF DISMEMBERMENT
SECT.
PAGE
19. General references.
. . . 11
20. Removal of head and limbs .
. . . 11
21. Removal of flesh .
. . . 12
22. Purpose of dismemberment .
. 13
23. Examples discovered
. 14
24. The Book of the Dead .
. 15
25. The custom in other lands .
. IS
CHAPTER VI
THE IRON BEADS
26. Discovery of beads
. 15
27. Sources of iron
. 17
28. Native iron deposits
. 18
29. Iron used in Egypt
. 19
CHAPTER VII
THE NEW TYPES OF POTTERY
30. Details of ordinary pottery . . . .19
31. Fancy and foreign pottery . . . .20
CHAPTER VIII
OBJECTS FROM THE PRE-DYNASTIC CEMETERY
32. Stone vases and beads.21
33. Palettes, flint knives, and ivories . . .22
34. Pottery, horn. 2 3
35. Various objects.23
v
vi
CONTENTS
MEYDUM
CHAPTER IX
THE WORK AT MEYDUM
SECT.
PAGE
36. The lower temple .
. 24
37. The section of the pyramid .
. 25
38. Mastaba of Nefermaat .
. 25
39. Later cemeteries .
. 26
40. Description of plates
. 26
THE LABYRINTH
CHAPTER X
THE LABYRINTH
41. The site.
. 28
42. Restoration of the plan .
. 29
43. The shrines and statues.
. 30
44. Architectural pieces
. 32
45. Buildings near Labyrinth
• 33
CHAPTER XI
TOMBS OF THE XIITH DYNASTY
46. Site of the cemetery
•
•
• 35
47. Contents of tombs .
•
•
• 35
48. Later objects .
•
•
• 36
MAZGHUNEH
CHAPTER
XII
THE CEMETERIES OF
MAZGHUNEH
49. Outline of work
• • • • -37
5a Abu Shalbyah cemetery
• 37
51. South Abu Shalbyah
. 38
52. Kom es Sunt.
• 39
53. Kom Amar .
• 39
54. Sheykh Karamyd .
. . . . 40
CHAPTER XIII
THE SOUTH PYRAMID OF MAZGHUNEH
SECT.
55. The site.
•
PAGE
• 41
56. The pyramid.
•
. 41
57. The pit .
. 41
58. The entrance passage .
. 42
59. The second passage
• 43
60. Long eastern passage .
• 43
61. Measurements
• 43
62. First false passage .
■ 44
63. Great northern chamber
• 44
64. Second false passage
. 44
65. Third false passage
• 45
66. Sarcophagus chamber .
. 46
67. The wavy wall
• 47
68. The pyramid chapel
. 48
69. Later history .
. 49
70. Date ....
. 49
CHAPTER XIV
THE NORTH PYRAMID OF MAZGHUNEH
71. The site. 50
72. Present entrance passage . . . .51
73. First plug chamber.51
74. Second plug chamber.52
75. Sarcophagus chamber.53
76. The passage N.54
77. Lines drawn on blocks.54
78. The date.54
79. Surrounding remains.55
Index.57
LIST OF PLATES
WITH PAGE REFERENCES TO THE DESCRIPTIONS
GERZEH
PAGES
i.
Predynastic burials ....
2, 5, 8
ii.
Predynastic mud-covered burials
• 4
iii.
Predynastic dismembered burials
• 5.9
iv.
Iron bead groups.
15 . 23
V.
Predynastic beads ....
. 22
vi.
Predynastic vases, etc. . . 5,21,
23. 24
vii.
Predynastic flint and pottery horn .
• 23
viii.
Stone vases, etc. ... 21, 23, 24
ix.
Polished red pottery ; decorated pottery
3 . 4 .
19, 20
X.
Rough-faced pottery; black pottery 1
,4, 20
xi.
Wavy-hand led pottery ; late and fancy
4, 20
xii.
Slate palettes and painting on pots .
. 22
xiii.
Predynastic cemetery plan . . I,
4 . 5,8
MEYDUM
xiv.
Pyramid section ....
• 25
XV.
Mastaba of Nefermaat and Atet
25, 26
xvi.
Wood door; and xviiith-dynasty objects 27
xvii.
Pottery of iiird and xviiith dynasties
26, 27
xviii.
Pottery of xviiith dynasty
. 27
xix.
»l » M • * *
• 27
XX.
Steles and scarabs ....
. 27
xxi.
Objects of xviiith dynasty
. 28
xxii.
Bronzes, stele, and beads .
1, 28
LABYRINTH
xxiii.
Granite shrine of Amenemhat III .
• 30
xxiv.
Statues of Hathor and Sebek .
• 3 1
XXV.
Statues of king and palm goddess .
• 3 i
xxvi.
Group of king and lake goddesses .
• 3 i
xxvii. Foot; Sebeks with names; model
pyramid . . . . 3 1 , 3 2 , 35
PAGKS
xxviii.
Fire altars and inscriptions .
32 , 34
xxix.
Columns and sculpture
• 32
HAWARA
XXX.
Group 58 ; Ushabtis of xiith dynasty 35, 36
xxxi.
Canopies, xiith dynasty: pectoral and
beads, xxvth dynasty
• 36
xxxii.
Site of Labyrinth . . 29, 32, 33, 34
xxxiii.
Pottery stands and model vases .
33.35
xxxiv.
Pottery of xiith dynasty
• 35
XXXV.
it >» n • •
34 , 35
xxxvi.
Pottery, late ; gold tongue plates.
• 36
xxxvil
Rock tombs, plans
• 35
xxxviii.
Inscriptions.
30,36
MAZGHUNEH
xxxix.
South pyramid and temenos wall
41. 42 , 43 .
00
N
xl
„ „ chambers and passages
43 . 44 . 45 . 46 . 49 , 5 °
xli.
„ „ sarcophagus and chapel
46, 48, 49
xlii.
„ „ views .
. 46
xliii.
„ „ views and objects
• 45
xliv.
» ,, „ „ 43 , 44,47
xlv.
„ „ chapel, views
48
xlvi.
Lamps, model, late objects .
34 * 4 i
xlvii.
North pyramid, plans and sections 51, 52, 53
xlviii.
„ „ trap doors .
5 *» 53
xlix.
„ „ and causeway
• 55
1.
Map, stone vases, and scarabs
. 40
U.
Rock tombs . . . . 37, 38, 39,40
Iii.
Pottery .
37,38
Mr. Angelo Hayter has kindly drawn the pottery of four plates.
vii
THE LABYRINTH, GERZEH, AND MAZGHUNEH
CHAPTER I
THE SITE OF EL GERZEH
By GERALD WAIN WRIGHT
1. Early in December 1910 I began work again
at Meydum, to dear up certain questions which had to
be left undecided last year. These were: to make
certain, if possible, whether there were a low temple,
belonging to the pyramid of Sneferu, at the edge of
the cultivation ; to see what could be made of the
construction of the pyramid ; to find Atet’s chamber
in the great mastaba belonging to her and her husband
Nefermaat; and to clear out the original passage
leading into the chamber of Nefermaat, which was
discovered last year. Besides this there was an xviiith-
dynasty cemetery to be examined about 4 miles to
the north. Though one of the Meydum group of
cemeteries, and worked from Meydum, it would be
better named El Gerzeh, for it is close to that village
and to the other cemetery, which we found later on in
the season. At the end of January, when this work
was coming to an end, it became necessary to look
for another site, and on scouring the desert in the
neighbourhood of this xviiith-dynasty cemetery, at a
distance of about half a mile to the north, we came
upon a few graves, which produced objects of the
usual pre-dynastic type. These are well known in
the south country, but no detailed account has yet
been published of any further to the north than the
Abydos district, 200 miles away. I was fortunate in
having the help of Mr. Bushe-Fox, who once more
left his work on the Roman sites in England to
come out and take a part in the excavations. He
arrived just in time to push on the final stages of the
work at Meydum, and we finished up the planning,
pot-drawing and photography, and set to work to
build a new hut by the site of the pre-dynastic
cemetery. In the course of ten days or so we moved
in, dismantling the old Meydum house.
2. The site of this pre-dynastic cemetery is a
shallow wady in a slightly raised gravel bed, just to
the south of the head of the embankment road from
El Riqqeh to the Fayum. It lies about 300 yards
into the desert from the present edge of the culti¬
vation, and about 200 yards south of the great
wady, which leads the road across the desert from
the embankment head. The dunes, among which
the cemetery lies, form the north side of a great bay
in the desert edge. This bay is now coming under
cultivation. The xviiith-dynasty cemetery lay on
the south side of this bay. There is also a Moham¬
medan cemetery on a bluff which rises a few hundred
yards to the north of the embankment head, and
north of this again lies a Roman cemetery.
While trenching the desert in the neighbourhood
of the embankment head for any more cemeteries, we
found three or four isolated graves of the xiith dynasty,
but no regular cemetery of that period. These graves
were dug in the deep sand overlying the gravel, in
the wady up which runs the Fayum road ; hence
their position was analogous to that of the pre-
dynastic graves found in the next wady to the south,
which were also dug through the sand into the under-
lying gravel or marl, as the case may be.
A little further into the desert, on the high ground
at the north side of the road wady, were some curious
deep pits, of quite irregular shape, from one of which
came a few flint flakes, and from another the hoard
of bronze figured on pi. xxii. The hiding of the
bronze was not the object for which the pit was
dug, as the cache was made quite high up in the
filling of the pit, only 3 feet or so below the surface.
The purpose of the pits is quite inexplicable at
present, for, although we dug out a couple of dozen
of them, they produced nothing whatever beyond
these objects. Not a single bone or fragment of bone
was found in or near them. No grain was found, and
they did not appear to be granaries.
There were also two large pit tombs, one half a
mile into the desert, the other close to the cultivation.
A central hollow, now filled with blown sand, is in
each case surrounded by large mounds of gravel with
2
THE SITE OF EL GERZEH
here and there a bleached piece of bone, showing only
too plainly that they have suffered the usual fate of
Egyptian tombs in having been plundered.
3. In trenching round the pre-dynastic cemetery,
we found another curious one, consisting of only nine
graves, most of which were plundered, probably owing
to the fact that they had been dug in the higher
ground around the edges of the pre-dynastic wady.
The skeletons that remained were in the very con¬
tracted position of the proto-dynastic period, with the
head N. or rather N.E. (see pi. i, 1). The only objects
obtained from these nine graves were three small lime¬
stone vases of iind-dynasty shape, as El Amrah and
Abydos, pi. xvi, no. 8, a few fragments of a beautiful
rosy pink limestone table of offerings, and a piece of
a large finely worked alabaster bowl. This small
isolated community seems strange. We may well
ask, how did nine individuals come to be inhabiting
the neighbourhood apparently all by themselves, with
no immediate predecessors and their nearest suc¬
cessors being presumably at the end of the iiird
dynasty more than four miles away at Meydum? Quite
close to these nine graves was a wide layer of black
ashes, from which we were unable to obtain any¬
thing beyond the ashes. Lastly we may note that
there were a number of Bedawy esbehs scattered all
round these cemeteries and all close to the Fayum
road.
CHAPTER II
THE SEQUENCE DATING
By GERALD WAINWRIGHT
4. WHILE working up the results obtained from
the pre-dynastic cemetery, there was good opportunity
for adding to the system of Sequence Dates set out
in Diospolis Parva. The check on the general accu¬
racy of this system is the more satisfactory as it is
supplied from a very different part of the country,
El Gerzeh being some 200 miles north of Naqada
and Diospolis Parva, on the pottery of which places
the arrangement was built up. We now know that
this sequence dating is not a local affair applicable
only to the South country, but extends over the
whole land. As was found by Randall-Maclver at
El Amrah, the sequence dates of the pots in any
given grave coincide closely one with another. Had
the ranges been derived from a faulty system, this
could hardly have occurred time after time, as it did,
in some 290 graves at El Gerzeh, as well as in the
cemeteries of El Amrah. At every revision the
ranges put forward in Diospolis Parva are of course
liable to some slight expansion, as they were not the
result of an exhaustive study of the whole civilisation
of pre-dynastic Egypt, but only of a study of that
portion of it exhibited in a small number of ceme¬
teries. The types which bear only one isolated, or
several isolated, dates will be especially liable to
revision, for the isolation of these dates implies that
only a single specimen was found, and that it occurred
at that date in the original 900 graves, which formed
the corpus. If there are but one or two isolated
dates, it means that the type only occurred once or
twice, and therefore its history was not sufficiently
known to provide a range.
5. Below is a list of additions necessary to be made
to the isolated dates already published, to make them
coincide with the ranges of the groups of pottery
with which these types were found at El Gerzeh.
Yet out of the whole cemetery it is only necessary to
make additions to seventeen types, and it will be seen
on looking down the list that the additions are very
slight, and that no alteration of the general position
of the type in the sequence of dates is required. For
instance, only a single pot of the type P 94 b was
found at S.D. 46 in the original making up of the
corpus.
Now however at El Gerzeh this type is found—
again as an isolated specimen—occurring in grave 63,
whose range, deducible apart from this pot, is S.D.
52-68. It is therefore evident that this type did not
show its full range at Naqada and Diospolis, but had
a range extending from 46—as found before—to at
least 52, the lowest number at which it would
correspond to the range of the other pots found with
it at El Gerzeh. A check is supplied by the allied
type P 94 a which is found at the intermediate dates
S.D. 50, 51. The extension of P 94 b to S.D. 52 then
is quite consistent, and the sequence date of P 94 b
will in future read S.D. 46, 52.
The types, which showed a clear range in the
corpus, naturally did not require so much expansion
in their sequence dates as did those isolated ones.
As a matter of fact, out of the whole cemetery only
the four ranges given below had to be expanded at
all to make them fit, and these four expansions were
only very slight. For instance, a specimen of D 59 b
was found in grave 139. The range of this grave
according to its types of pottery, other than D 59 b,
was s.D. 62-66. Again, in grave 169, otherwise
ranging from S.D. 61-62, a specimen of D 59 £ was
THE SEQUENCE DATING
3
found. By the evidence of the cemetery of El Gerzeh,
then, D 59 b must last at least as late as S.D. 62 in
order to coincide with its contemporary types. But
the range given in the Corpus to D 59^ is only
S.D. 46-60. It is therefore evident that this type did
not exhibit its full range when the corpus was made
up, and it is 2 points short in the case of grave 139,
and 1 point short in the case of grave 169. In
order to make the whole contents of the graves agree
it will be necessary to lengthen the range of D 59 b
by these 2 points, and to revise the range of D 59 b
from S.D. 46-60 to S.D. 46-62.
To these four alterations it must be added that
F 58 a may run on as late as S.D. 58, when it occurs
in Rough-faced pottery.
The revisions therefore are 22, and the revised
list is :
Polished Red Pottery [P]:
S.D. S.D.
lie. 35-63 466 38, 70,72.75
40 d. 57,63,64 78 a. 65,68
41642,44,47 94646,52
c. 35 , 43 , 58
Fancy Forms [F] :
58 a. 40-58
Decorated Pottery [D]:
S.D. S.D.
5644,45,47 36 c. 40, 50
7 a. 40, 44, 52 47. 52, 53, 60
11. 44,47 59 6 46-62
14. 48, 62 67 a. 46-58
Rough-faced Pottery [R]:
S.D. S.D.
44 a. 57,60 68 a. 40-58
51. 33,44,47 71a. 55, 58, 63
656 47-66 93 a. 37- 5 °
6. A number of new types were found, which have
been worked into the corpus of sequence dates. To
do this there was no need to revert to the system
explained in Diospolis Parva, for the corpus is now
in existence, and by means of it we can assign dates
to forms of pottery, just as well as to forms of stone
vases, etc. It will be remembered that by the
Diospolis Parva system the range there given to each
type may be longer, but cannot be shorter. But this
is not the case with the ranges here applied to the
new types, for every new shape has been given the
shortest range which will cover all the graves in
which it was found. Hence it is evident that the
ranges given to these new types represent, in each
case, the shortest range deducible from the compara¬
tively few graves at El Gerzeh, and may be extended
in future like the other sequence dates. For instance,
P 84^ is found in graves 45 and 193, of which the
sequence dates are :
S.D.
Grave 45 . . . 50-70
,, 193 • • • 52-68
52—68
The range S.D. 52-68 being common to both is for
the present, therefore, the range of this type of pot.
But it is possible that, on revision by the material
provided from another cemetery, P 84 £ may be
found in a grave whose range is only S.D. 51-65.
The shortest known range would then become
S.D. 5 2-65.
Again, when a new type such as W 2 c has been
given a long range—in this case S.D. 43-70—it does
not mean that it is a common type occurring con¬
tinually, as it would mean in Diospolis Parva, but
merely that it was found in a grave which otherwise
only contained common pottery, and so could not be
exactly dated. As a matter of fact this was a very
rare type, of which only this one example was
found.
Therefore, while the ranges here given form a
useful basis for the dating of fresh material and are
quite reliable, yet, owing to the small number of
instances, they do not present the same solidity of
an irreducible minimum, as do the ranges in Diospolis
Parva , but are liable to a certain expansion or
contraction according to further evidence, whereas
the Diospolis Parva ranges cannot be contracted, but
only expanded.
New Types.
Black-topped Pottery [B] pi. x:
S.D. S.D.
576 50-68 76 c. 47-64
Polished Red Pottery [P] pi. ix:
S.D. S.D.
166 55,57 386 59.61,65
23/ 57.64 57 c. 47-63
g. 58,60,61,65 71c. 52-63
326 52-63 7$d. 65
36 c. 48,49,59 e. 58
4
THE SEQUENCE DATING
S.D. S.D.
75/ 60
g 61
h. 50-60
i. 64, 65
77 b. 36-71
ft 55 , 57
81 * 55 , 57-63
d. 47-65
82 rf. 47-70
84 c. 55-60
d 57
Fancy Forms [F]
S.D.
32 a. 57
b. 59,61,65
ft 63
d 47-65
84 a 55
/ 52-63
g. 52-68
h~ 57
i. 57,64,65
95 d. 43-70
96 ft 53-66
97 b. 42-77
98 c. 52-70
100 a. 47-78
S.D.
32 ft 65
/ 66
46 £. 50-70
100. 47-70
Wavy-handled Pottery [W] pi. xi:
S.D. S.D.
2 ft 43-70 42 ft 58-63
d. 57, 64 47-65
19 £. 58-62 / 51-63
42 & 58-63
Decorated Pottery [D] pi. ix :
S.D.
4 b. 60, 6i
7 d. 58
8 a 48,49,59
12 b. 41,57,60,61,64
18 d. 60-65
43 A 52-63
S.D.
44. 50-70
59/ 49, 59
61a. 47-77
67 rf- 52 , 55, 57,63
68 c. 63
Rough-faced Pottery [R] pi. x :
S.D.
33 b. 43-70
42 d. 57, 64, 66
43 b. 50-70
ft 43-70
44 b. 55
ft 51-63
d 52-70
e. 66
63 a. 47-78
65ft 47-64
66 b. 47-57
69ft 53-63
/ 47-57
g- 50, 57 , 64
S.D.
70 . 47-57
74 b. 47, 50-66
ft 53-66
a?. 50-64
76 ft 52-53
79 ^. 47 - 52 , 57,64
88 < 5 . 61
91 55,63
93 c. 58-63
ioio. 39-73
< 5 . 57, 64
102. 43-70
103. 63
Late Pottery [L] pi. xi:
S.D. S.D.
53 ft 59 53 t - 47-57
s. 63 43 b. 52-76
Black Polished [BP] pi. x.
S.D. S.D.
i a. 50-77 3 - 55. 57
b. 57 4 - 57, 63
2. 40-65
CHAPTER III
THE BURIALS
By GERALD WAINWR1GHT
7. The graves were of two kinds, one large and
roughly oblong about 50 x 30 inches, and the other
very small and much more truly oblong. These are
found as small as 25 x 15 inches, and are naturally
more frequent when the graves are dug in the marl.
The graves were, as a rule, dug through the sand
on to the underlying gravel, which formed the floor
of the grave, though sometimes they did not reach
the gravel, but stopped short in the sand. Some
of them, however, were cut down into the hard gravel
itself as much as 24 and 36 inches, and where the marl
was the underlying stratum the grave was cut down
to it, and sometimes into it, a matter of 20 to 30 inches.
Therefore though the pre-dynastic people preferred
not to dig in tough rock, this material presented
no difficulties insuperable to their tools. Most of
the graves were deeply covered with sand, there
being as much as 80 inches over no. 139, and
70 inches or so over many more. At the higher
edges of the depression the graves were, however,
very shallow. These were cut entirely in the gravel,
and the pottery in a few graves was actually showing
above ground.
There appeared to be no roofing composed of
brushwood upheld on branches, nor were there any
brick-lined graves, but in five instances the whole
burial had been carefully plastered over with mud,
as is shown in pi. ii. In the case of no. 113, pi. ii, it,
a regular coffin seems to have been built round the
burial, the mud being supported on the mat with
which the body was covered, and then the whole
thing sagged in with its own weight. In the case
of nos. 142 and 133, pi. ii, 8 and 9, the mud appears
to have been worked over the body up to a central
roof ridge running N. and S. This system was evi¬
dently the more successful, and has stood intact.
ORIENTATION OF BURIALS
5
In neither case was any mat used. In no. 142 some
of the offering pots were placed outside the covering,
thus anticipating the usage found in the ist and iind
dynasties {Royal Tombs, I, pis. lx, lxi; II, pis. lx, lxi),
where chambers for the offerings were built round
the tomb chamber, three of which, in the case of
Merneit, were found still well stocked with jars.
Multiple burials may be said not to exist in this
cemetery; for, excepting graves 121 and 171, which
are the burials of a mother and child (pis. i, 4, iii, 6),
there is only one instance, no. 143, and in this there
are three skeletons. They are laid with their heads
N.W. and their faces W. All the other burials are
single Grave 110 contained the skeleton of a woman
and a foetus lying on the backbone. The grave was
situated among the others—was not separated in any
way —and showed no signs of any special treatment.
8. Out of the 288 graves which we opened in the
pre-dynastic cemetery, 39 were plundered or of the
New Kingdom period, leaving a balance of 249
unopened graves. Of these intact graves—
51 were burials of infants or children
198 „ „ „ adults
249
Therefore the child mortality was very high indeed,
one-fifth of the population dying in youth. Five of
these children were buried in large pots, for which
a cover was provided either by a dish or a broken
pot. In grave 77 the large pot containing the burial,
though covered at the mouth, had a hole knocked in
the bottom. In this grave the child is buried with its
mother, though a pot is used ; in the other cases of
pot burial there is no other burial in the grave. The
child was about ten months old, as its teeth were just
coming through. Two of the other children were
buried with their mothers, no. 121 (pi. i, 4) being
broken up, and no. 171 (pi. iii, 6)—a big child—being
laid alongside her.
9. The orientation of the children was very varied.
Number of
Direction of
Lying on
Lying on
Burials.
Head.
L.
R.
14
N.
II
3
l6
s.
15
1
3
E.
I
2
5
W.
2
3
4
N.W.
3
1
1
N.E.
1
—
2
S.E.
2
—
1
S.W.
1
—
36 10
Though the normal pre-dynastic position of the head
to the south and the face to the west, lying on the
left side, was more general than any other, yet the
abnormal positions outnumber the normal. The atti¬
tude is much the same as that of the adults, except
that in seven the knees are not sharply flexed, but are
only slightly bent. Seven of them are also in a position
not found among the adults, a position in which
one of the hands rests on, or in front of, the pelvis.
Among the adults an approximation to this attitude
is found in only five cases, where the arm is stretched
down to the knees or round the ribs. The children
were well provided for, having at least one and
generally many vases, while several of them had
fine painted pots, and nine had stone vases ; most
of them had a little galena and malachite; three
had slate palettes; nine had beads; one of the
two amulets found came from a child’s grave;
one had a fine flint flake; another had a curious
rod, either of kohl, or else very corroded metal, with
an ivory point set in it (pi. vi, 11). The richest
grave of all, no. 67, was that of a fair-sized boy,
whence came the iron beads (which are described
in chap, vi), the only weapon found, which was a
pear-shaped mace-head of white limestone, also a
copper harpoon (the only hunting implement found),
a fine slate palette, and the only ivory vase found.
The whole tomb group is figured on pi. xiii. Two
of the best stone vases came from grave 81—an
infant’s grave.
The attitude and orientation of the adult burials
are drawn up in the accompanying table:
Number of
Direction
Lying on
Lying on Various
Burials.
of Head.
L.
R.
Attitudes.
99
N.
76
23
—
35
S.
27
6
2
15
E.
13
2
—
10
W.
4
6
—
14
N.W.
9
5
—
12
N.E.
11
1
—
7
S.E.
5
2
—
6
SAV.
6
—
—
198
While
the normal
I 5 i
position
45
on the
2
left side i
preserved in three-quarters of the cases, the orienta¬
tion of the body is in only a sixth of the graves
in the regular pre-dynastic direction of the head
to the south; and while the children favour the
usual south position of the head, the adults are
buried in half the graves with their heads to the
46
6
THE BURIALS
north. This, it will be remembered, is the early
dynastic position. It is found in the neighbouring
iiird-dynasty cemetery of Meydum ( Medum , p. 21,
Meydunt and Memphis, iii, p. 29) ; and in the ist dynasty
the five servants of King Qa were buried, four with
their heads to the north, and only one with his head
to the south ( Royal Tombs, i, p. 14). In these cases
the skeletons generally lie on the left side, though
occasionally on the right. It seems therefore that
the dynastic direction of the head to the north was
already in use by the more northern prehistoric
people.
xo. Forty-six of the burials were wrapped in what
appeared to be a reed mat (pi. i, 3). A sample
of the mat, in which no. 262 was wrapped, was
examined by Mr. W. W. Midgley of Bolton, and
is pronounced to consist of Rhamie or China Grass.
Woven material was found in six instances. Samples
were sent to Mr. Midgley, who reports that the yarn
is made of Rhamie fibre. On those samples which
were in the best condition he reports as follows:
“ No. 262 A. A plain (one-up-and-one-down) type
of cloth, in which there are 48 ‘ ends ’ and 24 ‘ picks ’
per linear inch. About 60 per cent, of the warp yarns
are doubled, 3 per cent, are trebled, and 37 per cent,
single yarns. Only about 10 per cent of the weft
yarns are doubled, and these are inserted at irregular
intervals. Both warp and weft are irregular in
diameter. On examining the fibres, it was evident
they were too coarse to be flax, but have all the
characteristics of Rhamie fibre. Micro-measurements
were made of ten fibres: these varied in diameter
from res t° tsVt inch, with a mean of rnnr inch.
“No. 262 B. A plain weave, with 56 ‘ends’ and
30' picks' per inch. About 20 per cent, of the warp
yarns are double, all the rest being single. The weft
is composed entirely of single yarn. Both warp and
weft yarns are more regular in diameter than the
preceding. The measurements of diameter of the
fibres are practically the same as the above.
“ No. 262 c. A plain woven fabric, with 60 ‘ ends 1
and 20 ‘ picks ’ per inch. About half the warp yarns
are doubled, but are very irregular in diameter. The
diameter of the fibres ranged from to reVs inch,
with a mean of TI Viy inch. The characteristics and
diameter of the fibres of the three cloths from the
262 grave indicate that the fabrics were made from
Rhamie fibre, and that of a quality not unlike such
fibre as is in the market at the present day.
“ No. 263 A. On account of the friable condition of
the fabric, it is difficult to make much out with any
degree of certainty. It is clear that it contains 88
* ends ’ and 32 ‘ picks ’ per inch. Also that in both
warp and weft there are some of the yarns doubled.
“ No. 263 B. The striking feature in the appearance
of this cloth is its fineness and evenness of diameter
in the yarns. There are 88 ‘ends’ and 52 ‘picks’
per inch. The cloth is peculiar (instances of the same
occur in early Egyptian cloths) in not having the weft
at right angles to the warp —in this case it is about
20 0 out.
“ No. 263 C. Made out of evenly-spun single yams,
with 76 * ends ’ and 40 ‘ picks ’ per inch. This fabric
is also peculiar in having the weft put in quite 40°
from right angle to warp.
“ No. 263 D. The cloth contains 88 ‘ ends ’ and 36
‘ picks ’ per inch. Nearly all the warp and weft yarns
are doubled and are fairly regular in diameter.”
In reply to a query about the origin of the varia¬
tion of the angle between the warp and the weft
Mr. Midgley kindly wrote the following:
“The fact of the weft not being at right angles to
the warp, if one may conclude by the fabrics, does
not, I think, imply that such weaving is of inferior
quality. When I noticed the peculiarity first, I
thought it might have arisen through distortion by
stretching over the body, but repeated examples of the
same fact have led me to consider other causes. We
know how closely analogous to ‘ darning ’ was the
early weaving; and in our days it is not unusual to
find stockings not darned at right angles, and it may
be the women weavers of old sometimes put in the
weft more or less out of true right angle. In the
childhood of weaving we should expect different
methods, and it may be, seeing that we have no
evidence of selvedged cloth until very long after this
time, that they experimented with a diagonal weft to
see if it would not reduce the tendency to fray out at
the sides.”
11. This cloth was used in various ways.
No. 254 had cloth only on the lower vertebrae of
the backbone, therefore apparently had a waistcloth.
Nos. 257, 262, 263, 265 had the cloth simply lying
on the skeletons and none underneath except in the
case of 263, where it went under the chest There was
also a thick pad on the hands, and another on the
pelvis. In 257 the cloth was wedged tightly against
the outside of the backbone. Probably therefore over
each of these a cere-cloth was laid after they were put
in the grave.
No. 11 appeared to have had the bones wrapped
round with cloth.
MATERIALS IN THE GRAVES
7
We found no signs of leather being employed for
wrapping, in the whole cemetery.
12. Some of the bodies presented evident signs of
having been interred while the flesh was still on. In
no. 265 faeces were found inside the skeleton in rows
across the body between the ribs and pelvis, and
again a sample of the cloth taken from no. 263 proved
on examination to be impregnated with faeces. In both
cases therefore the dead men must have been buried
as bodies and not as skeletons and no. 263 at least
must have been buried within a few hours of death.
Hair was found on many of the skulls. The skulls
were all cracked into small fragments, yet were unable
to fall in completely owing to the sand which filled
the inside. In some cases the skull was so com¬
pletely filled that the cracked upper side had not
been able to sink in the least, but gave the appear¬
ance of a perfect skull, because it was lying on the
enclosed sand. In fact the cast of the interior of the
skull remained on the surface of the sand on removing
the upper pieces of bone. It is a curious question
how the sand got in so completely. It could certainly
not have penetrated through the cracks, for when
cracked the skull must have fallen in, if empty. It
must therefore have entered before the cracking of
the skull, and it must have filled every crevice while
the skull was still perfect The penetration of a little
sand through the eye-sockets and nostrils would be
understandable, but when the skull became filled
above the level of these, it seems strange that still
more should enter. As will be seen in pi. ii, 10, the
skull of no. 142 is quite packed with sand although
the burial was closely coated with mud, hence there
could be very little or no sand to penetrate of its
own accord. Two analogous cases were noted in
graves 127 and 276, where in each case a leg bone,
(which to all appearances was perfect, so closely
did the crack fit,) fell apart when lifted, cracked
into two halves, and was found to be as full of
sand in 127, and marl in 276, as if it had been
rammed.
13. In graves 76 we found carnelian and gold
beads
„ „ 138 „ 2 carnelian beads
„ „ 142 „ carnelian and sundry
other beads
in the sand filling of the skulL In 138 these beads
were large, being a full i inch in diameter.
In 8 graves we found that bones of some large
animal, presumably an ox, but possibly a deer, had
been laid with the dead man.
Graves: 10 16 20 33 109 no a 116 209 Total
Ribs . . • • • • • 5
Shoulder blade • *2
Broken uncer -1
tain piece ./
The ribs were always found in pairs. From the
above table it will be seen that a rib of beef was
evidently the favourite joint.
Dr. Goodbody, of University College, London,
undertook the analysis of such samples of the pot
contents as were not of a botanical nature, and found
them to be flesh, though of what origin it is impossible
to say definitely. On examination by ether very
little or no fat was found. The presumption there¬
fore is, that the substance is the flesh either of an ox
or deer, or it may possibly be human. The greatest
quantity of fat estimated by ether extract was 2 per
cent. In at least 3 cases there was a strong sus¬
picion of resin, as on burning the substance gave out
a strong resinous or oily smell, but on analysis the
substance does not answer to all the resin tests. In
one case, no. 25, the flesh had been wrapped up in
leaves, for a leafy structure was identified on the
outside. The flesh was not confined to any particular
type of pot, for in no. 25 the sample was taken from
a rough-faced pot, in no. 254 it was taken from a
wavy-handled pot, and the sample from no. 13 came
from a painted pot. In the case of no. 254 there was
very little flesh, but it was mixed with a great deal of
earth.
Many of the vases contained a substance in a
spongy, or at times powdery, condition. A specimen
was examined by Prof. F. W. Oliver, of University
College, London, who reports :
“ The spongy material contains quantities of the
glumes (chaff) of a species of Triticum (wheat). As
starch grains were also recognised in nests of cells, it
is probable that grains of wheat were present with the
glumes.”
There were no pots full of beetles buried as at
Diospolis Parva, nor were any dogs buried as at the
above place and Naqada.
Wood occurred in 11 graves, mostly as a single
piece of stick about 2 inches in diameter. In 8 cases
these occurred near the walls of the grave, or just
under the extremities of the skeleton. In no. 173
the wood was found included in a pile of pebbles and
other odds and ends. The other two were plundered
and nothing could be gathered as to the original
position of the wood.
8
THE BURIALS
14. What appears in the plan (pi. xiii) as grave 108
was a very unaccountable piece of work, being a long
deep trench running north and south. It measured
83 x 22 inches, and was cut 25 inches deep into the
rock. There was no burial here, but the whole was
filled with grey ashes and charcoal. The only objects
found were 3 finger bones, of which 2 were burnt
and the other showed no signs of burning. No
potsherds or other objects of any sort were found.
As will be seen from the plan, it is in the middle of
the graves. Probably this was the burning-place of the
offerings for the dead and possibly from this fire came
the innumerable potfuls of ashes which are always
found buried with these people. It is curious that
finger bones should have been found here, and also
occasionally in the pots in the graves. It is possible
that the earth with which these bones were mixed in
these pots had retained its original crumbliness
through having been burnt and mixed with a little
ashes. In the ash-jars some earth and occasionally
sand and a few scraps of pottery or flint were found,
suggesting that the ashes had been scraped from a
hearth. None of these details were observed in this
trench.
15. The nine iind-dynasty burials were all plun¬
dered, except that figured pi. i, 1. The graves were
different to the pre-dynastic ones, being much more
box-like, quite truly oblong, with the corners sharply
cut out. No. X was lined with brick and produced
the three small limestone vases. The position of the
only undisturbed body, no. 8 (pi. i, 1), is much more
tightly flexed than that of the pre-dynastic people,
though the pre-dynastic no. 12 (pi. i, 2) nearly ap¬
proaches it. The orientation of no. 8 is the dynastic,
the head being to the N.E.
CHAPTER IV
EVIDENCES OF THE MUTILATION OF BODIES
By GERALD WAIN WRIGHT
16. All through the work we were careful to dis¬
tinguish any mutilation of the bodies, as apart from
either plundering or the hypothetical reconstruction
of the burial by relatives after the discovery of an
outrage. We thus eliminated the numerous graves
which showed the usual signs of plundering, such as
chips of pottery, bones and pieces of bones, and even
whole pots high up in the filling, and scattered pell-
mell at every level from the surface of the ground
down to the confused pile of bones mixed up with the
pots and potsherds in the middle of the grave. We
also eliminated grave no. 238 as a probable resto¬
ration ; for on examining the skeleton we found the
left knee joint and only a few inches of the femur and
tibia remaining in their proper position, the greater
part of both of these bones having disappeared, as had
the pelvis and the right leg. The place of the right
femur, however, had been supplied by some one else’s
forearm, as an ulna and radius were found, where a
femur was anticipated. The skeleton had both its
forearms attached to the humeri in the usual way.
Moreover the grave contained no pottery, and another
grave had been cut through one corner.
After thus discriminating the results of plundering
and a possible reconstruction, and after further
eliminating several doubtful cases, we have twelve
cases left, which cannot be accounted for by these
means, nor yet by the theory of the falling to pieces
by natural decay, for in no case of the displacement
of bones was there a roofing of any sort, nor even
a mat, to preserve a free space round the body in
which bones could move; but as soon as the sand
filling was thrown in it fell directly on to the corpse
itself. This displacement of bones cannot be thought
to be due to our workmen carelessly replacing bones
which they had moved in the work, for the bones
were so cracked and perished that they fell to pieces
at a touch, and we were unable to obtain a single
perfect specimen from the whole cemetery.
These twelve graves bear no sign whatever of
plundering, apart from the details which we here take
to be the result of mutilation. In these graves the
bones were all lying in place on the clean floor of the
grave, cut in the gravel or marl. In at least two
cases, nos. 67 and 142, there were very good reasons
why the disorder could not possibly be the result of
plundering.
No. 67. The head appeared to be severed from
the body, as it was standing on its base, and a neck
vertebra was found some distance out of place
between the shoulders; yet the valuable necklace of
gold, iron, carnelian, and agate beads was left round
the neck. Had a plunderer been feeling round the
neck it is highly improbable that he should miss the
necklace, and disturb only one vertebra, leaving all
the others in their places—see pi. xiii, where the
disturbed vertebra is indicated by V.
No. 142. The greater part of the feet are missing,
although the burial was covered with an unbroken
mud coating some 2 inches thick, pi. ii, 8, 10. The
burial was cleaned by one of the oldest and most
EXAMPLES OF MUTILATION
9
experienced men, and when I found that the forepart
of the upper foot was missing, I cleared the lower one
myself from the untouched sand, and found it to be
in the same condition. There is not the least likeli¬
hood of the upper foot having been disturbed in the
cleaning and then cleared away, for the man was
accustomed to tell me when he had disturbed bones,
and to leave them for me to see, as he did with the
finger bones of this very burial.
17. From these two cases, which present every
probability against the plundering theory, we will
proceed to the others, none of which show any sign
of plundering or disturbance other than the detail
described.
No. 123. The pelvis was entirely missing, together
with the lower vertebrae.
No. 137. The feet were entirely missing.
No. 138. The sacrum was gone, and only two
broken pieces of the iliac bones remained, while the
left femur was articulated into the left iliac bone,
the right femur was laid 4 or 5 inches away from the
iliac bone, and' upon the heel bone and two other
bones of the foot. Beyond these three pieces there
was no other sign of the feet. The condition of the
feet confirms that of 142, and this grave, again, was
cleared by one of the most straightforward and
Intelligent of the men, and one who has been with us
for years.
No. 171. The left iliac bone was removed from the
sacrum, and was separated from it by some distance;
it was out of articulation with the femur, and had
been turned right round, as shown in pi. iii, 6, 7.
That this is the result of the burying of the child is
improbable, as the arms, upon which the child is
actually laid, are undisturbed, whereas the left iliac
bone is almost further removed from that possible
scene of disturbance than any other part of the
body. The left iliac bone was lying upon the heel of
the left foot, but 4 inches of sand intervened between
them. One of the child’s teeth was found by its left
elbow.
No. 187. Two of the hand bones were lying apart
from the hand, alongside of the forearm, in the un¬
disturbed sand, whence Mr. Bushe-Fox took them
himself.
No. 200. The six highest vertebrae were entirely
missing. The skull had never been moved, for it
was tightly wedged against the pots and was
smoothly covered by a mat, which passed down
between it and the pots, which were standing upon
it It seems impossible that plunderers could have
located the exact position of the neck, and having
dug down upon it, could have removed it intact
without disturbing any other part of the grave.
No. 206. This grave is figured in pi iii, 5. Although
hardly a bone is in articulation, much of the separa¬
tion is not necessarily artificial; but the position of
the head and the two tibiae and fibulae cannot be due
to natural causes. The tibiae and fibulae are inverted
so that the ankle ends approach the knee ends of the
femora, and the knee ends are turned right away.
Moreover, the bones of the feet were scattered, a few
being laid at the end of the tibiae, the rest, with the
kneecaps and bones of the hand, being laid on the
other side, close to the second pot from the bottom of
the photograph. As natural decay will not account
for their position, no more will plundering; for the
skeleton lay evenly on the gravel floor of the grave,
and it was actually placed under many of its pots,
which show no sign of disturbance. Natural causes,
plundering, or reconstruction would be equally un¬
satisfactory explanations of the position of the head.
Not only was the skull, with three vertebrae attached,
found to be transposed on to the back of the skeleton,
between the shoulders (which could scarcely happen
naturally), but further, the beads were found still in
place under the skull. The position of these beads
negatives any movement after burial by plunderers
or from other causes. Hence, though a great part of
the apparent dismemberment might be explained as
due to natural collapse of the body, yet the position
of the head, tibiae, fibulae, kneecap, and foot bones
seems inexplicable except on the hypothesis of
mutilation at the time of burial.
No. 251. The head and right leg were missing.
This was a very small grave, being only 38 inches
long, and there never was room for the head, so that
the condition of the body cannot be explained as
the result of plundering.
No. 280. The ends of the tibiae were broken at
the ankle, but a few of the foot bones remained
beyond the broken legs. The left iliac bone was
missing from the pelvis. As the body was lying
on the left side, the missing ilium should have
been underneath the other bones; but as these were
intact and undisturbed, the removal of the left
ilium cannot be the work of plunderers or careless
workmen.
No. 284. The finger bones of the left hand were
scattered about near the forearm. I removed them
myself from the undisturbed sand.
18. The above information is here tabulated.
2
10
EVIDENCES OF THE MUTILATION OF BODIES
Part affected. Grave. Total.
Neck vertebrae . 67, 200, 206, 251 4
Pelvis . . . 123, 138, 171,280 4
Femur ... 251 1
Tibia . . . 206,251 2
Feet . . .137, 138, 142, 206, 280 S
Hand . . .187,284 2
We find that mutilation is mostly confined to the
feet, and next, to the pelvis and neck. When we
add the femur and tibia to the pelvis and feet, we
find that in 12 out of a total of 18 separate mutila¬
tions, it is the lower limbs which have suffered. The
neck has suffered in 4 cases and the hands in 2 cases.
Though we shall discuss the full significance of the
rite in the next chapter, the mutilation or dismember¬
ment probably took the form here set forth with the
extra intention of laying the ghost, either by prevent¬
ing it from walking, or by killing it by cutting off the
head, or lastly by depriving it of power, if it should
walk, by destroying its hands. Possibly connected
with this rite are the curious finds of small bones,
which are occasionally found mixed up with earth,
rarely with sand, and once in mud, in the pots which
are laid in the grave. They are always very small;
and, when human, generally a single finger joint,
though sometimes a bone of a very small animal
takes its place. Occasionally it is just a splinter of
bone. The earth was quite loose and crumbly, in
contradistinction to the mud, which was a cake.
The finds were the following :
Graves: 10 40 57 61 71 95 119 281 294 Total.
Small
animal
Finger 1 • • • 3
bone / and skull
Bone
splinter #
apparently
human
Uncertain • • 2
The finger bone in no. 281 was tiny, and with it
was another just as tiny and a piece of a very young
skull. From the pot in grave 10 came a chip of flint
and a few chips of pottery along with the jawbone of
the small animal. The bone from no. 71 was so
small and broken that Dr. Goodbody, of University
College, says he believes it to be human but would
not care to state it definitely. The pots from graves
10, 61, 71, 95, 119, 294 contained earth, that from 40
contained mud, and those from 57 and 281 contained
sand. Out of the nine finds three are distinctly
human and one is apparently so, while three are
animal and two are uncertain.
Three similar human finger bones were found in
the trench full of ashes no. 108. Of these, two were
burnt. A curious analogy to these finger bones comes
from the South Seas, where in the Island of Tonga
the amputation of fingers was taking the place of
child sacrifice when the arrival of Christianity stopped
it (Mariner, Account of the Tonga Islands , 1827, i, 190,
300, ii, 22). It may be that there was child sacrifice
in pre-dynastic Egypt, and that it died out there in
exactly the same way as it did in Tonga. At any
rate the presence of the fragment of the very young
skull with the two small finger bones is suggestive.
This instance is of value as a modern example, about
which there is no question of interpreting archaeo¬
logical evidence. But from ancient times there is an
equally close parallel which has an even more im¬
portant bearing on our finds, for it is nearer both in
time, place, and nature. During the excavation of
the site of Gezer, which is situated in South Palestine,
Mr. R. A. S. Macalister discovered bones buried in
pots. It will be simplest to quote his own words
from the Quarterly Statement of the Pal. Explor.
Fund, Jan. 1905, p. 32, where he says: "In a
number of tombs, all about 1200 B.C., there were
found with the vessels containing food exactly identical
vessels containing one or more human bones. In
one, for instance, was a small earthenware jug, con¬
taining the finger bones of an infant. In another
was a similar jug, in which was an adult patella.
Elsewhere was an infant’s sacral bones. Most re¬
markable of all was a bowl into which the calvaria
of a skull was exactly fitted, obviously with in¬
tention. ... I am permitted, through the kindness of
Dr. Merrill, to quote a parallel but apparently later
example from Beit Jibrln. This specimen consisted
of a bowl or cup-shaped glass vase, with a neck, and
it contained an extraordinary assortment of relics:
three adult toe bones (from different individuals); an
adult finger bone; thumb bone of a child of 10;
sacrum ; right ulna and fragment of femur of an
infant; and a foetal toe-bone.”
“ Two possible explanations suggest themselves.
We may here find a reminiscence of a funeral feast
in which originally ceremonial cannibalism had been
practised. Or else the bones may have been re¬
garded as amulets; superstitions attached to such
relics as the fingers of drowned persons are familiar
to everyone, and these bones may have had some
PARALLELS IN PALESTINE
II
such virtue. I may re-assure possible sceptics, so far
as I can foresee their objections, first, that it is im¬
possible that the bones should have accidentally been
intruded into the jugs, or been inserted by workmen,
for in every case I cleared out the jugs myself, and
saw that the earth they contained had been un¬
disturbed before I did so; and secondly, that they
are not the surviving bones of originally complete
skeletons, buried in jars like the infants in the High
Place; for the jugs are never more than six or eight
inches high, and would not have contained skeletons
of any size. The preponderance of infant bones will
not escape attention.” The infant burials to which
Mr. Macalister refers are those found by him under
the floor of the temple at Gezer. The skeletons were
all those of new-born children, none of them being
more than a week old (P.E.F.Q.S., Jan. 1903, p. 33).
A similar cemetery containing nothing but the burials
of very young children has been found surround¬
ing a rock altar at Tell Ta’annek by Prof. Sellin
( P.E.F.Q.S ., July 1902, p. 303). There can be no
doubt but that these infants’ cemeteries are the
remains of a widespread custom of child sacrifice,
which may or may not be connected with the finds
of bones reported above.
The parallelism of these finds to ours at El Gerzeh
in Egypt is striking, and becomes the more signi¬
ficant in the presence of the pottery vase also found
at El Gerzeh and described in sect. 31, the clay of
which proved to have come from the Philistine plain.
Thus once more we find connections between Pre-
dynastic Egypt and S. Palestine corroborating those
already postulated by the occurrence of wavy-handled
pottery in the two countries.
CHAPTER V
THE RITUAL OF DISMEMBERMENT
By GERALD WAINWRIGHT
19. In the religious literature of the ancient
Egyptians the rite of dismembering and unfleshing
the body is curiously prominent in the earliest texts,
and evidences of the practice remain on into the
later times, where as a rule the underlying idea is
plainly misunderstood or forgotten, as for instance in
the title of ch. lxiii A of the Book of the Dead (Renouf,
p. 115) “ Chapter whereby one is not burnt with fire,
but drinketh water, in the Underworld.” In the text
of the chapter itself there is no reference whatever to
water drinking, but only to the risk of burning, to
which the dead man was exposed. May not this be
a late surviving memory of a disused custom, of which
we found an instance in the trench full of ashes,
no. 108, which contained apparently burnt finger
bones ? With a growing civilisation there seemingly
came an aversion to this custom, and this charm
against it may be the outcome of such aversion. In
later days when the custom had totally disappeared,
the chapter could not be understood as it was, hence
to give it a meaning the inconsequent “ but drinketh
water ” is interpolated, being in consonance with the
later religious ideas. The text of the chapter itself
is of course not touched, and still only refers to
burning.
The references in the Pyramid texts are numerous,
and can mean nothing if they do not refer to a cutting
up of the body of the dead man, and the necessity of
his being pieced together again before being able to
take advantage of the Underworld. Moreover there
was no aversion to this custom in the minds of these
early people, but on the contrary a strong desire to
undergo so honourable a treatment; for Unas prays:
“ O, Nit, Aniou, Olrit, Olrit-hikoou, Nosirit, donne
qu’Ounas soit mis en pieces, comme tu es mise en
pieces ” (Maspero, Inscr. des Pyramides de Saqqarah,
p. 39). It may be noticed that Osiris does not appear
among these various divinities, who were cut up in
the way that Unas hopes to be cut up; hence this
allusion must be independent of any influence from
the Osirian legend, although that myth was in circu¬
lation and is referred to in the Pyramid texts. It is
therefore the only one apparently of many myths
concerning this custom which has survived to us.
20. We can best obtain a view of the state of
affairs reflected in these Pyramid texts by tabulating
their statements under the various parts. They are
as follows:
Head. H.
1. “ O Teti, car tu as soulevi ta tite pour les os, tu
as soulevi tes os pour ta tete ” (p. 104).
2. “ Sib . . . t’a fondd solidement, it f a donni ta
tite" (p. 124).
3. “ L&ve-toi Teti, car tu as refu ta tite, tu as
resserr£ tes os, tu as assemble tes membres ” (p. 126).
4. “ Eveille-toi, Teti, l&ve-toi car tu as re$u ta tite,
tu as assemble tes os ” (p. 143).
5. “ Vienne qui vient, tu ne bouges pas ; ta mfcre
vient k toi et tu ne bouges pas ; Nout vient &
toi et tu ne bouges pas; la Grande modeleuse
vient k toi et tu ne bouges pas ; mais d&s qu’elle t’a
prot£g6 k sa fa<jon, tu bouges, car elle te donne ta tite,
12
THE RITUAL OF DISMEMBERMENT
elle te fait cadeaux de tes os, elle assemble tes chairs,
elle t’apporte ton coeur dans ton ventre ” (p. 164 and
again not so fully on p. 164).
6. “ On t’a fait cadeau de tes os, tu as regu ta tite,
aupr&s de Sib, et il d^truit le mal qui est en toi, aupr&s
de Toum ” (p. 165 and again p. 166).
7. “ Ounas devient maltre de sa tite ’’ (p. 54).
And in the Ceremony of the Opening of the Mouth
it is said:
8. “Osiris Pepi Nofirkeri tu as regu ta tite'' when
4 Shonsi cakes are offered to the statue (p. 366).
Bones and Members. B and M.
1. “ O Teti, car tu as soulevd ta tete pour tes os,
tu as soulevi tes os pour ta tete " (p. 104).
2. “Tu a regu ta t£te, tu as resserri tes os, tu as
assemble tes membres" (p. 126).
3. “ Tes os ne s'aniantissent pas, tes chairs ne se
mettent pas en lambeaux . . . car tu es 1’un des
dieux, . . . et tu as ouvert les portes du ciel ” (pp. 141,
142).
4. “Tu as regu ta tfite, tu as assemble tes os"
(P- 143 )-
5. “ D&s qu’elle t’a prot£g6 k sa fagon, tu bouges,
car elle te donne ta t£te, elle te fait cadeaux de tes os,
elle assemble tes chairs, elle t’apporte ton coeur dans
ton ventre” (p. 164 and again not so fully on p. 164).
6 . “ On ta fait cadeau de tes os, tu as regu ta t€te
aupr&s de Sib, et il d^truit le mal qui est en toi aupr&s
de Toum ” (p. 165 and again p. 166).
7. “ Pepi a rduni les os, il a rassembl£ ses chairs . .
(p. 186).
8. Horus says he has come “. . . resserrer pour
toi tes os, rassembler pour toi ta texture, resserrer tes
lambeaux . . (p. 297).
9. “ L&ve-toi done . . . puisque tu as rassembli tes
os ’’ (p. 408).
10. Unas traverses the domains of Seb “ assemblant
ses membres qui sont dans la tombe, rejoignant ceux
qui sont dans le Nou ” (p. 60).
11. “ Nephthys a resserripour toi tous les membres.
. . . Hor t’a pr£sentd tes chairs, et, comme il n’a pas
donn6 ton moule, il t’a assemble sans qu’il y ait de
d&ordre en toi, Hor t’a dressd comme sans pareil (?)’’
(p. 121)
12. “Ta soeur Isis est venue a toi avec tes mem¬
bres . . (p. 123).
13. “ Le cceur cC Ounas d lui, lui-mime, ses jambes d
lui, lui-mime, son bras d lui, lui-mime ” (p. 63).
14. Horus acts “comme ta soeur ain£e, qui
assemble tes chairs, qui lie tes mains, qui te serre entre
ses bras, qui te trouve sur ton c6t6 . . (p. 407).
15. “ Cette huile [from the Eye of Hortu] ta
remis en ordre tes os, elle t’a rassembl6 tes chairs”
(P- 386).
In the Ceremony of the Opening of the Mouth h
is said:
16. “ O Pepi Nofirkeri, voici qu’ on t’a consolldi
tes m&ckoires qui ont tti separies ,” when a Kef-pashou
is offered to the statue (p. 358).
21. Flesh. F.
1. “ Hor tire la chair du double d’Ounas du corps
de’ ceux-ci et de ceux- 14 , qui sont sur les 6paules de
Ra . . (p. 64).
2. “Nephthysaresserr^ pour toi tous les membres
. . . Hor ta prisenti tes chairs, et, comme il n’a pas
donnd ton moule, il t’a assemble sans qu’il y ait de
ddsordre en toi, Hor t’a dress6 comme sans pareil (?) ”
(p. 121).
3. “ Tes os ne s’an^antissent pas, tes chairs ne se
mettent pas en lambeaux . . (p. 141).
4. “ D&s qu’elle t’a prot£g6 k sa fagon, tu bouges,
car elle te donne ta tdte, elle te fait cadeaux de tes os,
elle assemble tes chairs, elle t’apporte ton coeur dans
ton ventre” (p. 165).
5. “ Ce Pepi y passe (au ciel), sa peau de panthfcre
sur lui, le baton et le fouet de ce Pepi dans son poing:
ce Pepi passe avec sa chair ” (p. 175).
6. “ Que Mirinri passe, et que passe sa chair, que
Mirinri passe et que passe [son] vfitement ” (p. 325).
7. “ Pepi a r6uni les os, il a rassemblt ses chairs ...
(p. 186).
8. Horus says he has come “ resserrer pour toi tes
os, rassembler pour toi ta texture, resserrer tes lambeaux"
(P- 297).
9. Horus acts “ comme ta soeur aln£e, qui assemble
tes chairs, qui lie tes mains, qui te serre entre ses bras,
qui te trouve sur ton c6t6 . . (p. 407).
10. “ Cette huile [from the Eye of Horus] t’a
remis en ordre tes os, elle ta rassemblt tes chairs ....”
(p. 386).
In the ceremony of the Opening of the Mouth it
is said :
11. “Osiris Pepi Nofirkeri voici ton Oeil, que tu as
saisi,” when four Mito cakes are offered to the statue
(p. 366).
We thus see that the cutting in pieces, for which
Unas prays, was of a much more wholesale character
than that found at El Gerzeh, and closely resembling
that of no. 17 from Meydum as reported in Meydum
and Memphis, iii, pp. 15, 16, and that observed in
Deshasheh, chap. v. We see that when Unas hoped
to be dismembered he expected that:
SUMMARY OF DISMEMBERMENTS
13
1. His head would be taken from him, and that
it might be given back to him, H 2, 3, 4, 5, 6.
2. His bones and members would be taken from
him, so that a present might be made to him of
what had been once his own bones, B and M 5, 6, 12.
3. His flesh would be taken from him, and that
it might be presented to him, F 2.
After which he would become the owner of them, as
exemplified by the head, H 7.
4. There would be need to collect his bones and
members, B and M 2, 4, 9, 10.
5. There would be need to collect and rearrange
his flesh, F 4, 7, 8, 9, 10, for :
6. His flesh would be in pieces, which would have
to be bound together, F 8, and that having collected
his bones and members that:
7. There would be need to unite them and to
bind them together, B and M 2, 7, 8, 10, 11, 14, for:
8. His bones would have been in disorder,
B and M 15, and that:
9. His jaws would have been separated from each
other, and would need to be made rigid once more,
B and M 16.
10. All the constituent parts of his body (texture)
would have to be reassembled, F 8.
Each of these classes of dismemberment are
recognised by the Ceremony of the Opening of the
Mouth, for in it the dead man is assured that by
certain parts of its ritual:
1. His head has been presented to him, H 8.
2. His bones have been set in order again,
B and M 16.
3. His eye has been restored to him and made
part of himself, F11.
This last passage is not found elsewhere in these
texts. It might at first sight appear that this had
some indefinite meaning, and that the mourners
supplied him with all they could indiscriminately;
but when we find that the eyeball was removed
completely, leaving only the empty socket, which
was filled with paste, as in no. 17 ( Meydum and
Memphis , p. 15), we see that this statement and ritual
had its origin in a physical fact, and was intended to
supply an actual deficiency in the dead body.
The inference from F 5 and 6 is that the flesh has
been so utterly removed from the dead man as no
longer to be any integral part of him, and that when
presented to him it is only one of his possessions, just
as are his panther-skin costume, his staff of office
and his whip, and it is as necessary tp state that
he is in possession of his flesh as it is to state that
he is in possession of his other belongings, F 5, and
it is just as conceivable that his flesh may be left
outside as it is that his dress or staff may be left
outside. In fact in F 6 the flesh is conceived of as
quite a different entity to the dead man, and one wish
is expressed that Merenra may pass into heaven,
and then quite a separate wish that his flesh may
do the same, just as is done for his clothing, to which
his flesh is parallel in the pair of sentences ; in fact
Merenra’s flesh is here reduced to the level of his
clothing.
22. From a consideration of H 2, 5, 6 it is evident
that there had actually survived to the vith dynasty
these ritual ideas for kings, though many classes had
abandoned them in practice for different and more
civilised customs. In theory it was still in the
vith dynasty considered necessary to destroy the
old evil man so as to give him a fresh start, pure
and sinless, in the next world ; for at the time that
reconstitution of the body takes place, Seb, with
whom Atum is associated in the similar passage
on p. 166, destroys the evil that is in it. From H 5
it is evident that the reconstruction of the body
either gives, or is symbolical of, resurrection ; for
in the first part of the quotation it is said that various
goddesses come and the dead man does not stir;
even when the Great Modeller herself comes he does
not stir, and it is only after she has presented him
with his head, bones, and heart, and has collected
his flesh, that he moves. Hence the moving or
coming to life is the immediate result of the giving
of the head, of the making presents of the bones,
of the collecting of the flesh, and of the bringing
of the heart It is curious that in these early texts it
is Seb who is the god of the dead; it is he who
establishes a dead man, H 2 ; it is before him that
the present of the bones and head are made, H 6;
it is he who destroys the evil which is in the dead
man, H 6; and it is in his territory that the scattered
limbs are to be found, for Unas is said to have
traversed them in the search, B and M 10. This
strongly shows the extreme antiquity of the ideas,
as Seb belongs to the earliest stratum of the theology.
He is the hereditary prince of the gods. It might be
argued from a general view of the quotations that they
refer generally to a freedom in the next world from the
inconveniences of putrefaction in this. But if this were
all there could be little or no force in the statements
that the bones and the head have been presented,
H 2, 3, 4, S, 6, 8, B and M 5, 6, 12, for they must pre¬
viously have been taken from him to be able to be
14
THE RITUAL OF DISMEMBERMENT
given back : that the flesh has been presented, F 2:
that the members have been collected, B and M 2:
that the bones have been collected, B and M 4: that
the bones have been set in order, B and M 9, 16, for
though by natural decay the bones may occasionally
fall apart, as a general rule they lie closely in their
right places, at any rate there would be no need
to collect them, for they would be all together.
23. Although these quotations would not be
applicable to the results of putrefaction, they would
have much force if referring to such customs as
the dismemberment which has been described in
the previous chapter, as the unfleshing of no. 17
in Meydum and Memphis, pp. 15 and 16, and as the
dismemberment described in Deshaskeh, chap. v.
Moreover the quotations have definite reference to
the conditions observed; as for instance the references
to the head are plainly made in view of the decapita¬
tion observed at El Gerzeh in graves 67, 200, 206,
251, at Naqada and Balias, pp. 19, 20, 22, 23, 24, 25,
30, 31 ; grave 530 reported on pp. 22 and 30 being a
specially fine case.
The references to the collection of the bones and
members, refer to the removal of parts observed at
El Gerzeh in graves 123, 137, 138, 142, 200, 251 : at
Naqada and Balias, N. and B., pp. 9, 23, 31.
The reference to the providing of an eye, refers,
as has been already noticed, to the deficiency found in
no. 17, Meydum and Memphis, pp. 15 and 16.
After the quotation B and Mix Sir Gaston
Maspero has put a note of interrogation, not because
of any imperfection or doubtfulness in the text, but,
as he says in the note, because from the general
sense of the text this must be the rendering, although
it appears strange to our ideas—until explained by
recorded facts. As it stands the statement is quite
decisive, and the statement about the restoration
without any disorder evidently refers to such mis¬
fortunes as occurred to:
No. 206 at El Gerzeh, when his leg bones were
turned end for end.
Those rearranged burials in Naqada and Balias,
pp. 19, 20, 22, 23, 24, 27, 32.
The iiird-dynasty burial at Meydum in mastaba
no. 17, when, in taking the head from the body, the
atlas vertebra was turned upside down, as Dr. Derry
has kindly pointed out to me (. Meydum and Memphis,
p. 16).
The vth-dynasty burials at Deshasheh, reported
Deshasheh, pp. 20-23, pl s - xxxv, xxxvii, and quoted
below:
No. 116, when the left humerus was laid across
the body away from the shoulder-blade and fore¬
arm. All as originally arranged under perfect linen
wrappings.
No. 22, when the ankle bones were laid under one
thigh and between the shins ; when the kneecaps
were laid by the hip and shin, and a few toes and one
ankle bone remained loose at the foot end, but nothing
was joined to the shins ; and when the left hand was
cut off and laid by the elbow. An intact burial.
No. 28, when his hands were cut off and laid on
the chest, and his kneecaps laid lower down on the
body, and his feet laid on the stomach. All inside
complete wrappings.
No. 21, when her pelvis was turned back up;
when her collar-bone was put at the level of her
elbows, and two of her vertebrae were put above
her head, and others were laid by the pelvis.
No. 27, when her ulnae were wrapped alongside of
her humeri,and the left one inverted; when her spine
was inverted, and her ribs were loose, and her left foot
and kneecap were put in her pelvis, and the right
toes were removed. All inside linen bandages.
No. 23, when her neck was mislaid, and a low
vertebra was put by the neck, and when the middle
part of the spine was inverted ; when an ankle
bone was put by the breast, a kneecap under the
shoulder, the toe bones by the collar-bones, and two
neck vertebrae lower down ; when the ribs were all
in a jumble with the loose vertebrae in the body;
and when the hands were cut off and laid on the
forearms. All inside perfect wrappings.
No. 113, when his vertebrae were disordered, and
his ribs neatly arranged in a group, the top one being
put in the pelvis ; and when the radius was inverted,
and the hands were laid some little distance up the
forearms; and when the ankle bones were recom¬
posed as a foot, but all out of order and without toes.
All inside perfect wrappings.
No. 115, when his skull was turned upside down,
and the two shoulderblades were put together in the
lower jaw apart from the humeri; when his right
ulna and left radius were inverted, and the breast
bone and top vertebra were by the pelvis ; when
the ribs, vertebrae, and fingers were mixed pell-mell,
and most of the vertebrae were loose; and when one
thigh was disarticulated from the pelvis ; when the
ankle and toe bones of both feet were mixed together
between the thighs as were the fingers and toe bones
as well as being in the body, and by the knee. All
swathed in perfect bandages.
REFERENCES TO DISMEMBERMENT
No. 78, when an ankle bone was put on the
breast; when the thighs were wrapped up in one
roll with the shins and right forearm, without any
hand ; and when the splint bones were removed and
one lost; and when the feet were gone all but the
toe bones. All inside wrappings.
After reading the foregoing list, it will be readily
understood that the risk the dead man ran of being
restored to shape in a disorderly manner was no
slight one, and that it required a workman as careful
as Horus to do the work satisfactorily. It is also
plain that there was considerable need for the dead
man to have his head brought to him, for his limbs to
be brought to him, for him to collect and arrange his
bones, and for him to be firmly set up by Seb or some
one else.
24. The echo of all this as it comes to us in the
Book of the Dead has been already referred to with
regard to chap, lxiii A. Other cases are:
Chap, lxiii B (Renouf, p. 116) which is entitled
“ Chapter whereby one is not boiled in water.”
Perhaps in the old days the removal of the flesh
from the bones was facilitated by means of boiling
in water.
Chap, xliii (Renouf, p. 101) is said to be a “ Chapter
whereby the head of a person is not severed from him
in the Netherworld.” In this chapter the deceased is
made to say, “lama Prince, the son of a Prince . . .
whose head is restored to him after it hath been cut
off.”
Chap, clxxviii (p. 360) is entitled “Chapter of
raising the body, of giving it eyes, of making it
possess ears, of fixing its head, of putting it on its
base.”
In chap, clxiv (p. 336) it is said of the living
spirits, “ Their bones are sound, they are delivered
from dangers.”
The rubric to this chapter (p. 337) says of the
man in possession of this chapter, “ His flesh and
his bones are like one who never died.” Though
this chapter is appended to chap, clxiii, which is
intended to prevent a man from being eaten by
worms and evil-doing gods, there is no reason against
the idea having originated in the ancient and widely
spread custom of dismemberment, though its meaning
was afterwards applied to a danger more real than
that of ceremonial cutting up had become by that
time.
Whether the idea that the soul of a wicked person
is consumed by evil beings is a misinterpretation of
the memory of the ancient actual eating of the flesh
IS
is difficult to say; but when a revulsion of feeling
began to arise, along with a more spiritual view of the
next world, it would be a very possible turn for human
thought to take.
25. In view of the many recorded facts, which
give force and meaning to the texts, and in view of
the texts, which certify to the correctness of the
recorded facts, it seems impossible to doubt but that
in primitive Ancient Egypt the custom of mutilation
and dismemberment of the dead held sway as it has
done, and still does, in so many parts of the world ;
as for instance in Neolithic Italy, “ in Sicily, Sweden,
in the dolmens of Denmark, in the Long and Round
Barrows of Great Britain, in the Crimea, in the dol¬
mens of Algeria, possibly in France, in the kurgans
of the province of Kiev in Russia, in Switzerland, in
the Nile Valley, and at Palaikastro in East Crete.”
(Peet, Stone and Bronze Ages in Italy , p. 172 ; Annual
of Brit. School at Athens, viii, 292). The custom
appears to be a very general accompaniment of burial
in a contracted position. (Cf. Peet, Stone and Bronze
Ages in Italy, pp. 170 et seqq.) It is also found in
modern times among the Latookas of the Albert
Nyanza country, where the decomposition of the
flesh is effected by means of a primary burial for a
short time, after which the bones are dug up and
cleaned, and then disposed of finally (Baker, Albert
Nyanza, i, 209). It also occurs to-day in Brittany,
where the method is the same as that of the Latookas
(Pitt Rivers Mus., Oxford), and I am told it also
occurs to-day in Switzerland and Greece, in which
latter country the graves are only let on a short lease.
CHAPTER VI
THE IRON BEADS
By GERALD WAINWRIGHT
26. In two unplundered and intact pre-dynastic
graves in the cemetery of El Gerzeh, iron beads were
found, which had all turned to rust. The graves
were nos. 67 and 133, pis. iv, 1,2, 5, xiii. From grave
67 seven iron beads were obtained and from 133 two.
In grave 67 the beads came from the neck and waist,
and in grave 133 they came from the hands.
In grave 67 the order of the beads from the waist
is not sufficiently certain to be guaranteed, but we were
able to get the necklace with four iron beads in its
original arrangement of 3 gold, 1 iron, 1 gold, 2 iron,
2 carnelian, 1 gold, 1 iron, 3 agate, 1 gold, 1 carnelian,
i6
THE IRON BEADS
I gold, I carnelian, I gold, and 2 gold which were
slightly apart from the others but which appeared to
join in here. Both strings were in position round the
skeleton, the necklace being embedded in the sand in
a vertical plane. There were one or two beads at the
ankle. While I cleared the sand from the neck, ex¬
posing two or three beads at a time, Mr. Bushe-Fox
picked the beads off. I also checked his observations.
The objects in the grave were :
No. 6, a pear-shaped mace-head of white limestone.
„ 7, a slate palette.
„ 12, a copper harpoon.
„ 13, the strings of beads.
„ 16, a small ivory pot.
V, a vertebra out of its place in the neck, and
pottery of
Corpus types.
Dates.
I. B 533
S.D. 40-75
2,3,4. R6 9 fl
53-66
5. D 7b
33-63
8, 9, 10, 11. R 81
38-67
14- R 63
50-80
15. K6gb
36-71
53-63
It is impossible to mistake this grave for a grave
of the later civilisation, known as Pan-grave, for none
of the objects found in it occur in that civilisation;
nor, per contra , do any of the very distinctive Pan¬
grave objects occur in this grave. The finds which
distinguish a Pan-grave are cups of a thin black and
red ware quite different in shape and body to the
black-topped pre-dynastic pottery, bowls of a coarse
ware scratched all over with a point, bracelets of
strips of shell, bucrania spotted over with black and
red, and damaged xiith-dynasty objects. No such
objects were found in the whole of this cemetery.
The skull was not articulated to the spine, but was
standing on its base, packed round with the sand
filling of the grave. The neck vertebra which was
out of its place was at some distance from the neck (
being between the upper parts of the humeri.
There were no signs of plundering, nor therefore
was there a possibility of the intrusion of objects of
a later date; the necklace with its gold beads was
still quite undisturbed round the neck, and the beads
were in their original order; all the pottery was
unbroken ; the copper harpoon still remained; and
the skeleton lay in place on the floor of the grave.
There were no plundered graves in this west end
of the cemetery, the very few that were plundered
being all on the higher ground at the other end.
The skeleton was lying on its left side, with the
head to the south and the face to the west, the usual
pre-dynastic position.
Prof. W. Gowland, F.R.S., has analysed the iron
beads and reports:
“ I have examined the ‘ iron * beads from the pre-
dynastic grave in Egypt and find they consist of
hydrated ferric oxide, i.e. iron rust, none of the
original iron having escaped oxidation. On analysis
one gave the following results :
Ferric oxide ....
Combined water with trace of\
C 0 2 and earthy matter. /
787 per cent.
21*3
IOO'O
They do not consist of iron ore, but of hydrated ferric
oxide, which is the result of the rusting of the wrought
iron of which they were originally made.”
The tubular beads have been made by bending a
thin plate of metal, probably over a rod which was
afterwards removed.
In grave 133 the two iron beads are similar to the
tubular beads of no. 67, but much smaller. They
were found among the beads from the hands, in which
no order was observable. This grave was also quite
unplundered and in its original condition, covered by
an unbroken coating of mud some 2 inches thick. It
contained:
a palette and rubber,
a small ivory spoon,
a tiny flint flake,
2 stone vases,
beads on head and hands,
and pottery
Corpus types.
R76
R65f
R84
W19
Dates.
S.D. 47-78
60-73
52-76
52-66
60-66
It also contained a quantity of things evidently
considered curious or ornamental, such as pebbles
naturally polished, shells bored for suspension, and
dog’s teeth. This body was also lying in the usual
pre-dynastic position on its left side with the head to
the south and the face to the west.
VARIOUS SOURCES OF IRON
1 7
In this grave, as in no. 67, none of the objects
could be mistaken for Pan-grave things, nor were
any of the usual Pan-grave things found. It will be
noticed that the two graves are contemporary ; the
range of no. 67 being S.D. 53-63, and that of no-
133 being S.D. 60-66. The range common to both
is S.D. 60-63. This being the case, both lots of iron
beads are probably the result of a single find of
iron, which must have been made between the
Sequence Dates 60 and 63.
27. The question now arises as to whence the pre-
dynastic people got their iron from which to manu¬
facture the beads. The possible sources seem to be
only three:
1. Trade from the Negroes or others, from whom
it was obtained in a reduced state ;
2. Ore, from which they reduced it themselves ;
3. A find of native iron, of meteoric or telluric
origin.
On consideration there appear to be insuperable
difficulties in the way of accepting 1 and 2, which
throw one back on 3.
The first possibility, that of obtaining the smelted
iron from the Negroes, seems to be out of the
question, for in pre-dynastic and early dynastic
times the inhabitants of the Upper Nile Valley, as
instanced by the Nubians, were in just the same
chalcolithic state as their Egyptian neighbours.
Their weapons were flint arrows, fish-tailed lances,
stone maces, and polished stone axes {ArcA. Surv.
Nubia, I, pis. 62, 63). Moreover in the xviiith
dynasty the tribute brought by the Southerners,
including Negroes and Nubians, never includes iron
or iron weapons, but consists of gold, electrum,
precious stones, incense, ebony, ivory, ostrich feathers
and eggs, leopard skins, bows and arrows, clubs, and
live animals ( Deir el Bahari, III, pis. lxxviii, lxxx,
L.D. iii, pi. 117).
Iron does not appear in the south until it is
reported in Meroitic times as taking the form of
mounds of iron slag, on which the temples are built
(Sayce, P.S.B.A., March 1911), thus postulating an
important industry. Iron objects from Nubia are
limited to a single needle, dating from the end of
the New Kingdom, or even later, which may there¬
fore be no earlier than the time that iron begins to
become comparatively common in Egypt {Arch. Surv.
Nubia, I, pp. 59, 60; grave 164, pi. 72 d). Hence
the famous African iron-working industry does not
appear to have been born till long after the days
under consideration.
In considering the second possibility the main
question is, were the pre-dynastic people able to
obtain and maintain sufficient heat to reduce the
iron ore ? Although they were accustomed to work¬
ing metal, it appears that copper was the only metal
in general use which they required to reduce; of the
others, the gold was found native, and the silver
was probably reduced before being imported from
Asia Minor. Therefore, to discover the greatest
heat they knew of from their reducing operations
we need only consider the copper and lead pro¬
cesses. We know that they used great quantities of
malachite, a carbonate of copper, from which copper
can easily be reduced by burning at a bright red
heat with charcoal in a covered fire. Another very
common material with them was galena, from which
lead can as easily and simply be reduced as copper-
Lead, however, was very rarely used, only one occur¬
rence being reported ( Naqada and Balias, p. 46).
Hence it would appear that for all the smelting they
were likely to have done, a bright red heat would
have sufficed.
The other metallurgical processes, to which they
were accustomed, were the melting and casting of
their gold and copper. For melting either of these
metals the bright red heat would not suffice, and a
greater heat—a bright yellow heat—is required, but
only for a period long enough to penetrate the con¬
tents of a small crucible, which could be done in a
comparatively short time. Herein lies the crux of
the question, for if they were able to maintain this
heat for a long time they might be able to reduce
iron from its ores. To realise how far this was
within their powers, it will be necessary to obtain
some idea of their implements and their limitations.
The monuments show us that the dynastic Egyptians
until the xviiith dynasty had nothing more effective
for producing a draught in their furnaces than blow¬
pipes, and that it took four to six men to produce
the blast necessary for the melting of the metal
{Deir el Gebrawi, I, pi. xiv, p. 20 ; II, pi. xix. Beni
Hasan, II, pis. vii, xiv; IV, p. 6 ; L.D. II, pi. xiii). It
was not until the xviiith dynasty that bellows on the
modern African system were first introduced into
Egypt (Newberry, Life of Rekhmara, pi. xviii). Now
the most primitive bellows must be far more effec¬
tive than blowpipes, and we have much information
as to what can be done with these very implements
by the modern Africans and others.
We find that whereas copper can be not only
reduced from its ores, but actually melted out of its
3
i8
THE IRON BEADS
ores by one hour’s use of these bellows, yet when
these advanced appliances are employed on the re¬
ducing of iron in Kordofan, it takes ten hours to
obtain the metal (Gowland, Archaeologia, lvi, p. 313).
Therefore, to reduce the iron by means of the far
inferior blowpipes, would take at least as long, or
longer, and we know from the monuments that with
these implements it is necessary to work in relays
of four to six men at a time. Though it is not
an inconceivable thing that by a little organization
this system could be worked for a comparatively
short time such as one hour, yet it hardly seems
possible to maintain this effort for so long a time as
ten hours, and then only to produce sufficient metal
to make a few small beads. Therefore, from the
question of temperature, considerable difficulty seems
to arise. Not only is there this difficulty, but on
consideration of the technical processes, we find that
in Kordofan when, after the ten hours’ reducing, iron
is obtained, it is in a useless condition, and before
becoming malleable has to be returned to the fur¬
nace and roasted for two hours. This is a process
peculiar to iron working, and is not necessary in
copper working, for the copper melts to a malleable
condition after the one process. As the smelting
experience of the pre-dynastic people was built
upon copper reducing they cannot have known any¬
thing of this further step; hence had they after
great effort reduced a piece of iron, it would have
been incapable of undergoing the treatment of
beating out, by which these beads have been made.
It is possible that in a fit of disgust, on finding
after all their labour only a lump of an unknown
metal, and that useless to them, one of the smiths
threw it back into the fire, hence providing the
necessary second roasting, and that on raking out
the fire some one again tried the metal and found it
malleable this time.
But to accept such a proposition, as that the
pre-dynastic people so laboriously smelted out the
iron, implies that they were trying scientific experi¬
ments on all their minerals, which seems to be too
advanced for a primitive people not very long in
the possession even of copper. Moreover had there
been any recognised and understood method of pro¬
ducing iron, the production, even if small, would
have been continuous, and the finds would not then
be sporadic, as they are. This very rarity of the
finds goes to prove that there was no regular supply
of iron, but that the people were entirely dependent
upon chance, the source being accidental and not
artificial. Hence from the technical improbabilities
of the obtaining of this early iron from its ore we
are forced to inquire whether there is any other
method, which would supply the metal accidentally,
in a simpler manner, and more in accord with the
methods to which they were well accustomed, and
one pre-supposing fewer archaeological difficulties.
If such a method can be found it ought to recom¬
mend itself as the beginning of the new art. With
this in mind we now come to the consideration of
the third proposition : a chance find of native iron.
28. Native iron is generally taken to mean
meteoric iron, but meteoric iron is not malleable
and cannot be bent without snapping. Therefore
the method by which these beads have been made
excludes meteoric iron, for all except one have been
worked out into thin plates and successfully bent
round a core. It therefore becomes necessary to
consider the possibilities of native telluric iron, which
is often supposed to be of so rare an occurrence as
to be out of the question. However rare native
telluric iron may be as a present source of so
common a metal, it is not so very rare in small
quantities, for it occurs in :
Greenland at Ovifak, Disco Island, in a large
mass, and at other places along the coast.
Lake Huron on the north side of St. Joseph’s
Island.
California], where it occurs in the form of nuggets.
Oregon J &&
British Columbia, as dust.
Brazil, at Santa Catharina.
„ at Ribeira River, gold washings.
New Zealand, where it is known as Awaruite.
Germany, at Weimar in Hesse Nassau.
„ at Miilhausen.
Bohemia, at Chozen.
(Dana, System of Mineralogy, pp. 28, 1,038, and
S. Kensington Show Cases.)
The Weimar and Disco Island iron is found in
basalt
Now, although native iron is not yet proved in
Sinai, the conditions there are favourable to its
occurrence, for the whole country in the neighbour¬
hood of the mines is composed of a Carboniferous
sandstone, with a ferruginous stratum, which contains
beds of pure haematite, the whole of which has been
overflowed by basalt (Petrie, Sinai, pp. 34 et seqq.)
Moreover we know that the dynastic Egyptians from
the time of Semer-khet of the ist dynasty onwards
were in the habit of mining in Sinai for turquoise,
EXAMPLES OF IRON IN EGYPT
19
malachite, and copper; therefore we may presume
that the pre-dynastic people obtained their turquoise,
malachite, and copper from the same place, and
probably also their haematite, which material abounds
there.
Therefore there seems no reason against the
supposition, that in one of their mining expeditions
they came across a small nugget of a grey substance,
which they were metallurgists enough to recognise
as metal, though of a peculiar sort. They would
then bring it home as a curiosity, and work it up
into beads along with their other precious metals,
such as gold, ^hey would be able to beat it out
and to work it up easily with the appliances of
which they were in possession. This hypothesis
pre-supposes no archaeological difficulties, as do the
other two, and therefore must stand as the most
probable one.
29. The exceeding rarity of native telluric iron
corresponds with the exceeding rarity of worked iron
in ancient Egypt before about 900 B.C. The only
specimens of iron known are :
Pre-dynastic beads S.D. 60-63, here described,
ivth dyn.: a piece found in the inner joints of the
Great Pyramid (Vyse, Pyramids of
Gizeh , I, p. 275).
vth ? : several pieces of a pickaxe from Abusir ( Guide
du Muste de Boulaq, 1884, p. 296).
vith : a lump of iron rust, perhaps a wedge (. Abydos,
II, P. 33 ).
xiith : a spearhead (Maclver, Buhen, pi. 88).
xviith: a point of a chisel, broken;
a ferrule of a hoe-handle.
both from Mohammeriah near Esneh ( Guide du
Musde de Boulaq , 1884, p. 296).
xviiith : a stud from a box ; a finger ring.
both now in the Ashmolean Museum (no
provenience).
a sickle found by Belzoni under a sphinx,
apparently of Horemheb, in the avenue
leading from the temple of Mut to the
temple of Karnak.
Now in the Brit. Mus. {Cat. 1850, p. 226);
(Belzoni, Travels in Egypt , vol. I, pp. 235, 236, 252,
253); (Mariette, Karnak , plan); {Baedeker, plan of
Karnak.)
xxth : a halbert probably of the age of Rameses 111
{Abydos, II, p. 23.)
3 iron knives of Ramesside date or later
(Ramesseum, p. 13).
a needle from Nubia of about this date or
later {Arch. Surv. Nubia, I, pp. 59, 60,
pi. 72, d.)
These occasional finds of iron down to the xviiith-
dynasty, when Egyptian metallurgy underwent a
great change, were sufficiently rare for the metal to
be looked upon as precious and ornamental as well
as useful. The fact of the earliest piece of iron being
of telluric and not of meteoric origin, militates against
the theory, that the name bia-ne-pet (Stone of Heaven),
which was later applied to this metal, originated in
the first iron being obtained from meteorites. The
probability of the iron being found in a haematite
district, however, suggests the possibility of its
gaining its name by confusion with haematite. The
haematite was used for cutting into figures in a black
metallic-looking state, and the iron would be found
with, and look like it, and to the ignorant observer
would only differ from it in being malleable.
This theory of the failure to distinguish native
iron from haematite pre-supposes that the name
bia-ne-pet was originally that of haematite. It is
probably used in this sense in the Great Harris
Papyrus, which mentions large numbers of statuettes
of this material; yet no statuette of iron has ever been
found in Egypt That bia-ne-pet was originally the
name of haematite is not yet proved; however, the
name occurs commonly throughout Egyptian texts
and is therefore more likely to be the common
haematite rather than the rare iron.
CHAPTER VII
THE NEW TYPES OF POTTERY
By GERALD WAINWRIGHT
30. PL ix. The Red Polished ware (P) presented
many new shapes. The open bowls were far
shallower than were those of Naqada and Balias.
Nos. 100 a and b had never had their polishing
finished. 100 a was a pot of R pottery quite rough,
but the surface was painted all over with red paint.
The operation had not been finished, for the lumpi¬
ness of the surface was not smoothed down, and the
paint remained unburnished. P iooa was made
of a finer pottery, which was straw bound, and had
been smoothed over and painted. The paint ap¬
peared to have been burnished over just once and
left, as the surface was not evenly burnished, but
slightly so in lines about tu inch wide running up
20
THE NEW TYPES OF POTTERY
and down the pot roughly parallel one with the
other, and separated from each other by a strip of
unburnished pottery.
The Decorated ware (D) presents sundry varia¬
tions of the old ornamentations, Neither of the boats
on D 43 b has any standards, which is new to us.
D 44 shows a Z-shaped standard on one side, while
on the other is another standard, as will be seen in
the extended drawing pi. xii, 2. It is curious that
this Z standard should appear to be invariable, but
that the boat on the other side of each pot bears a
standard which is variable and may be one of any
of the well-known signs. This will be observed
again in pi. xii, i ; and no. 3 is the vis-d-vis to the Z
standard on a pot from grave 144. The oblong net
or sail pi. xii, 1, is new both as to shape and in the
absence of the pole to which these objects are
generally attached.
In many of the vases from Naqada and Balias,
which have tubular handles, the cylinders of clay
through which the hole is bored, are concave on the
outside. This feature was not found on any of the
shapes from El Gerzeh, which had this form of handle.
Nor is it found on the stone vases with tubular
handles, as it was at Naqada and Balias.
PI. x. The pottery with a rough surface (R).
The deep vases of this quality were evidently made
by building up the clay in sections, the height of
each section being regulated by the length of the
maker’s fingers. The fingers were evidently pressed
into the lump of clay and turned, so forming the
interior of the vase, while the thumb was moved
round the outside to smooth it over. When the
walls had risen to the bend between the first finger
and the thumb, *>. to the height of 4 or 5 inches, the
incipient pot was left to dry; after this another
section of the same height was moulded on to the
dry part, and was again left to dry, repeating the
process as often as necessary. Finally a small roll
of clay was clapped on the top, and moulded into
shape by the bent fingers on the inside, and by the
thumb on the outside. The joint of the dry and new
wet clay was neatly smoothed off on the outside, but
on the inside was left rough, and often there are
great rolls of clay overlapping the lower section,
showing how the wet clay had been pressed on to the
dry. The rims are of many shapes, but some parts
of the thumb will generally fit the curve. In accuracy
they vary from a rather rough result to one which
almost seems from its precision to be wheel-made.
It is probable therefore that the pot was turned
round on its own base, which was dry and hard, the
slow wobbling movement of the pot producing
corresponding wobbles in the rim. This kind of
method has perhaps been used at Phylakopi in
Melos and other places, where many of the vases bear
the marks of a small mat upon their bases. It has
been suggested with much probability that the vases
have been turned upon this mat as a base. This
system is also employed in S. Nigeria, where a
broken pot is used as a base. Man. 1910, no. 53.
This process is known as the slow wheel, and would
form a natural precursor of the potter’s wheel, which
does not occur on the monuments in Egypt until the
xiith dynasty.
Types R 42 d to R 44 d appear to have been the
cooking pots, for the great majority are thickly
covered on the outside with soot and smoke stains.
At the bottom of pi. x is a little group of types,
which have the forms of the stone vases and are always
coloured dull black. They are therefore probably
small imitations of black basalt vases. Next to these
is a group of little lumps of mud pinched up into a
resemblance of vases. They were found in great
quantities, and vary from mere lumps of mud without
an appreciable hollow to fairly good models such as
nos. 2 and 5, which will be found in photograph,
pi. vi, 11.
PI. xi. Most of the Wavy-handled pottery (W)
was slightly smaller in each case than the examples
of those types which were found at Naqada and
Balias. Here again we get small models, nos. 42,
b, c, d, e, f. The four small vases grouped as Late
pottery (L) have been so classed on account of their
shapes, which do not occur in any other class, though
the clay of which they are made is the same as that
of the W pottery.
31. In the Fancy forms (F) nos. 32, a, b, c, d, e,f
are of red polished pottery, but of flattened form.
They differ from specimens of this type from Naqada
and Balias in being much less elongated in form, and
as a rule being flatter. No. 46 £ was a broken double
vase from grave 87, of which one half was missing,
but the junction was left on the part found. It is
made of a very peculiar clay of a brownish grey
colour and very soft The clay is bound with a dark
sand, and contains a few little red specks and a
great quantity of large chips of grey limestone. On
comparison with the material of the Tell el Amarna
tablets this clay is found to be identical in colour,
binding material, and the grey limestone chips with
that of a small group of tablets, nos. 39, 50, 52, and
FOREIGN POTTERY
21
55, all of which are totally different in these respects
from any other tablet, and which all come from
the same neighbourhood—South Palestine—no. 50
having been written by Yapakhi of Gezer, no. 52
by Widya of Askelon, no. 55 by Pu-adda of Urza,
and no. 39 by Shubandi, whose city is not mentioned.
Hence we may safely assume, that this vase 46 b was
actually made in South Palestine of S. Palestinian
clay, and imported into Egypt between S.D. 50-70.
Pottery precisely similar in every detail is found
again among the ist-dynasty potsherds from Abydos,
now in the collection at University College, London.
This S. Palestinian origin is in accord with the
affinities, in the shape of the wavy handle, be¬
tween the pre-dynastic Egyptian pots and the much
later Amorite pottery found at Lachish, dating to
about 1600 B.C. (Petrie, Tell el Hesy, pi. v.).
No. 100 is quite unique and evidently of foreign
origin, recalling some of the handled mugs of the North
Mediterranean. For while the handle is absolutely
foreign to Egypt and Africa, it is found commonly
in Europe from the neolithic times (Peet, The Stone
and Bronze Ages in Italy , passim ), and although this
actual pear-shape does not seem to occur quite so
early, it is a very common type in the Lake Dwellings
of the early bronze age (Peet, pi. iii), and an approxi¬
mation to it is found in the neolithic and enolithic
ages (Peet, pp. 126, 202, figs. 39, 74). Not only is
the shape of this pot entirely foreign to Egypt, but
also the clay of which it is made. The clay itself is
of a reddish colour, and has in it a number of white,
black, and dark red specks: it is painted with red
stripes. On looking round for analogous shapes
and textures, one finds both only in the Cretan
pottery of Early Minoan II and III periods. In
this pottery precisely similar clay is used, and shapes
of the same type are found. The example most
like it, on view in the Ashmolean Museum, is
rougher in its shape than this one from El Gerzeh,
and not so bulbous, while the rim, instead of being
horizontal, is raised a little higher on the side
opposite the handle: moreover the Cretan examples
are unpainted. However, these and the Egyptian
specimens all belong to one family in shape, and
are identical in the clay used in their manufacture.
We can therefore only surmise that this pot was
made in Crete in neolithic times, and exported
thence to pre-dynastic Egypt, in spite of its being
painted in a manner foreign to what we know in
Cretan pottery.
Of the pot marks there is nothing to note, except
that they were remarkable by their scarcity, only
seven having been found out of a courtyard full of
pottery. No. 4 was painted on in red, and no. 7 was
dug into the clay while it was still wet The others
were scratched on the hard pot.
CHAPTER VIII
OBJECTS FOUND IN THE PRE-DYNASTIC
CEMETERY
By GERALD WAINWRIGBT
32. NUMEROUS objects were obtained besides the
pottery. Many types of the pottery were smaller
than those found at Naqada and Balias, and the
same diminution is seen in the objects of luxury;
as for instance, many of the stone vases, the flint
flakes pi. viii, 25, which are just half the size of
those figured in Diospolis Parva, the ivory spoons
pi. vi, 9, viii, 30, 31, all of which were much smaller than
those from Naqada and Balias. The people seemed
very fond of models, for we found various tiny
stone vases, those in pis. iv, 3, viii, 7 being merely
dummies. As before mentioned, there were also
numbers of little mud models of vases (pi. vi, n,x)
and little pottery models of stone vases (pi. x). No
weapons of any sort, apart from the single mace-
head in grave 67, were found, neither fish-tail
lances, arrowheads, or copper daggers, and only one
hunting implement—the copper harpoon, also in
grave 67. Nor were any human-headed tusks, or
pots full of beetles found, nor any dogs’ burials.
Not a single piece of leather was found, though it
is a common material in the South, those bodies
that were covered being wrapped in woven cloth or
reed mats.
The Stone Vases. The stone bowls were very
dainty in shape, this being largely the result of
their thinness and the very small base to which
they were worked (pis. vi, 6; viii, 17, 19). The
pointed vases pi. viii, 12, 13, 14, are new. Their
range is S.D. 57-60, 63. No. 12 is of a beautiful
grey shelly limestone, the others are of a hard white
limestone. The finest tomb group was no. 142,
consisting of seven vases. It is shown on pi. vi, 6.
From left to right the materials are: top row, black
and white granite, white limestone 2, grey and
white granite ; bottom row, black and white granite,
grey and white granite, grey basalt. The whole
group is now in the Brussels Museum. The stone
vases were made of the following materials; grey
22
OBJECTS FOUND IN THE PRE-DYNASTIC CEMETERY
and white granite, a brilliant black and white granite,
black basalt, grey basalt, black and white porphyry,
pink limestone, hard white limestone, the local soft
yellow limestone, a very beautiful grey shelly lime¬
stone, brown alabaster, and dark serpentine.
Beads, etc. Most of the graves produced at least
a few beads. They were worn on the head, with
bunches over the ears, or as a fillet running round
the forehead, and on one occasion this fillet had a
small loop hanging from the centre of it They
were naturally worn round the neck and on the
wrist, and very occasionally on the ankle, and in a
string round the waist From the great number of
beads found among the bones of the hands, it is
probable that they were also worn on the back of
the hand. Although so large, beads no. 122 are
from the hand. No order was observable, but there
appeared to be a number on the back of the hand,
with a string running up each finger. They are of
black serpentine. Pendants were much worn, being
naturally polished pebbles mostly of sard or car-
nelian bored at one end. They were on the fore¬
head in grave no. 20, on the pelvis in no. 75, at
the back of the neck in no. 151, and at the wrist
in nos. 57, 59, and 279.
The groups of any importance are shown full
size in pi. v. Their materials from left to right are:
No. 75. Burnt chalcedony, sard, burnt chalcedony,
carnelian, burnt chalcedony.
No. 205. Green steatite, serpentine, calcite, white
limestone, serpentine 3, green steatite.
No. 55. Glazed limestone, lapis lazuli, carnelian,
lapis lazuli, sard, gold, lapis lazuli, gold, lapis
lazuli 2, gold, lapis lazuli, gold, glazed limestone,
lapis lazuli, glazed limestone, lapis lazuli, glazed
limestone.
No. 90. Carnelian 3, glazed limestone 2, turquoise,
carnelian 2, calcite, carnelian 2, burnt chalcedony,
sard, glazed limestone, carnelian 3, glazed limestone,
carnelian 2, glazed limestone, carnelian, glazed lime¬
stone 2, sard, turquoise 2, glazed limestone, carnelian,
sard.
No. 58. Six calcite, 1 limestone in the middle.
No. 142. Garnet, lapis lazuli 16, black steatite 2,
carnelian 2, glazed limestone 10, carnelian n, glazed
limestone 10, sard 3, bla^k steatite 2, lapis lazuli 15,
garnet.
No. 80. Order certain. Gold 4, white limestone,
gold, white limestone 3, gold 3, white limestone, gold 3,
white limestone 4, lapis lazuli 5, onyx, white lime¬
stone 3, sard, gold 3, sard, white limestone, gold 2,
black steatite, carnelian, sard, gold 2, white limestone,
gold, lapis lazuli, white limestone.
No. 122. Serpentine.
No. 206. Alternate groups of carnelian and serpen¬
tine, and four groups of garnet in the middle.
No. 229. Discs, serpentine ; cylinders, etc., serpen¬
tine 8, sard 6 ; amulet, gypsum ; cylinders, etc., sard 6,
serpentine 10 ; discs, serpentine.
No. 80. Order certain. Turquoise 2, onyx, quartz,
onyx 3, sard 3, brown agate, carnelian 2, sard, brown
agate, sard 5, calcite 2, sard, lapis lazuli, quartz, cal¬
cite 2, sard 2, lapis lazuli, quartz 4, turquoise 2.
At the foot of the plate are shown the spiral
gold beads of no. 55 magnified to double size, also
a selection of the pendants from no. 75, and the
two fly amulets from no. 205.
33. The Palettes. The new shapes will be found
on pi. xii. They were all made of slate, except 6,
which is of black granite, and 5, which is of black
and white porphyry, as is its rubber, though of a
different quality (pi. vi, 8). This is very small, thickish,
and nicely worked, and its rubber is about as large
as itself. It was found in grave 203 ; S.D. 52-66.
No. 6 is of heavy workmanship and is peculiar in
not being bored for suspension. Nos. 8 and 9 prob¬
ably represent birds. Nos. 2 and 7 represent tortoises.
The hollow produced by the rubbing of the pebble
was very distinct on many of them, and many also
retained considerable traces of malachite. The most
interesting of them was that from grave 59. It is
shown on pi. vi, 7, carved on the one side and bearing
on the other distinct traces of malachite rubbings.
It is bored for suspension. The design appears to
represent a cow’s head, ornamented with stars. It
may therefore represent Hathor in an astronomical
aspect All the stars except one are five-pointed, as
are the stars of the historic Egyptians. The excep¬
tion may have been given its sixth point merely to
raise it from the rest of the design and to make it
stand out from it. The two projections below the
horns no doubt represent the ears, the openings of
which are shown by the hollows bored in them.
The design should be compared with pot-mark 116,
pi. liii, Naqada and Balias , which appears to represent
the same object minus the stars. This pot-mark has
no Sequence Date. Unfortunately the accompany¬
ing pottery was all of the commonest types, hence
it is not more closely dated than to the range S.D. 47-
77; that is to say, to the second age of the pre-
dynastic civilisation. «
The Flint Knives. Five of the very finest work
IVORIES AND POTTERY HORN
23
were found. Specimens of this class are shown on
pi. vii, 12. The range of this type at El Gerzeh
was S.D. 57-65. The rougher quality occurred in 3
graves. Specimens are also shown on pi. vii, 14, 15,
and the range of this type is somewhat earlier, being
S.D. 53-64. The tiny flakes pi. viii, 25 were found
in sixteen graves, as many as twenty-eight being found
in one grave. No forked lances were found. The
two knives nos. 22 and 23, pi. viii, are dated no. 22
to S.D. 55-57 and no. 23 to S.D. 53-66. No. 23 is
shown in photograph at the bottom of group 12,
pi. viii.
Ivories. In this material were found the beautiful
little spoons pis. iv, 1 ; vi, 9; viii, 30, 31. These are
far finer than those found at Naqada and Balias,
being not more than 3 inches long. Only nine hair¬
pins were found, all of very plain types. Those
which differed from the types already known are
figured on pi. viii, nos. 32, 33, 34, 35, of which no. 32
is shown in photograph, pi. vi, 9. No combs of any
description were found, unless the much broken piece
of ivory alongside the palette in the tomb group 133,
pi. iv, 1, should be one. In grave 88 was found an
ivory pointed piece similar to that shown in pi. vi, 11,
which comes from grave 81 and was found inserted in
the rod as shown. At present it is not possible to
say of what this rod is composed ; it is whitish grey,
quite light, and hard and solid. At first it appeared
to be kohl. It was found with a child lying near
the owner’s head upon the shell pendant, which is
figured beside it Just beyond it was lying a large
nacreous shell. We found many of these, but no
evidence was forthcoming as to their use, though
probably they were used for holding paint, as in
dynastic times. Both of these pieces of ivory had a
notch round the butt as shown. The range of both
is S.D. 43-70. In grave 67 was found the small ivory
pot hollowed out of a single piece. It is figured
in pi. iv, 2, with its tomb group S.D. 53-63. None
of the tusks with a human head upon them were
found.
34. Pottery Horn. This curious object, of which
two views are given in pi. vii, 13, was found in
grave 20. It was held in the hands of the deceased
close against the face, with the top against the nose,
the butt by the shoulders. With it were found a
tiny ivory spoon and a limestone vase. There were
two pendants, one of camelian and the other of
agate, on the forehead of the skull. There was a
pair of ribs of an ox or some other large animal in
the grave. The pottery dated the grave to S.D. 58.
This object represents a cow’s horn with a cow’s head on
the top. It is made of polished black pottery, 7 inches
long ; plain white disc beads are inserted as eyes. It is
completely closed, except for the hole in the front
and a tiny hole about T V inch in diameter in the
back, opposite the large hole. This small hole is
just visible in the side view of the horn. There was
a plug exactly fitting the large hole, and this plug
was bored with a small hole, similar to that at the
back of the horn. It therefore seems as if a string
was originally fastened through the plug, and then
passing through the large hole passed out at the back
through the small one. This string would serve to
pull the plug up into place, and would also serve as
a loop by which to carry the horn, the tension on the
string serving to keep the plug in place ; something
on the same principle as the Japanese Inro. Along¬
side of this pre-dynastic pottery horn here shown
is no. 14, a modern Basuto snuff-box, belonging to
Mrs. Kendall, Winterbourne Bassett, and made of an
actual horn. It shows the hole in front, which was
presumably stopped with a plug of wood. A hole
is bored for the string below the head, hence the
mode of suspension is quite different, and there is no
need for the little hole at the back, which is therefore
lacking. It is also ornamented with a head on the
top. This head is apparently bovine, representing
that of a hornless cow. The projections at the side
more probably represent ears than horns ; the two
nostrils are shown, but no mouth. Thus there is
great similarity in appearance, and therefore probably
in use; and as the Basuto specimen is used for carry¬
ing a powder (in that case snuff), we may legitimately
suppose the pre-dynastic specimen to have served a
similar purpose, though, curiously enough, there is no
sign of such powder remaining in the roughnesses of
the inside.
35. Various Objects .—A single marble, £ inch in
diameter, was found in each of the following graves,
nos. 39, 80, 277, in each case the grave of an adult
In grave 277 the marble was found in a polished
red bowl along with a small disc of stone, a shell,
and a small vase. The marble from grave 39 is of
white limestone; that from 80 of grey granite. From
grave 116, which was the grave of a child, came a
set of eleven marbles, consisting of six large ones
£ inch in diameter, made of grey granite, and five
small ones $ inch in diameter, made of white lime¬
stone (pi. iv, 4).
Nine of the forehead pendants were found, of
which the new shapes are figured on pi. viii, nos.
OBJECTS FOUND IN THE PRE-DYNASTIC CEMETERY
24
26, 27, 28, 29, and another in photograph pi. vi, 11.
They were all made of shell, and all plain except no.
26, pi. viii. No. 28 is probably a broken one touched
up for the use of the dead, as it is very small and
has no hole for suspension, as have all the others.
There was no clue given as to their use, for they
were not found in any special position in the grave,
but never far from the head.
In 30 the specimen was behind the head ;
55, near the face ;
72, beneath the back of the head;
82, in front of the chin ;
in the other five cases the specimen was merely at
the head end of the grave. A small pesh-ken, pi.
vi, 10, and a tiny basket of galena were found in
front of the hands in grave 21. The blade of the
pesh-ken is of dark green noble serpentine, and is
sharpened on the two inner edges. Though serpen¬
tine will not take a sufficiently good edge to cut,
yet perhaps it may have been used for toilette pur¬
poses, as it was found with the galena, from which
the face-paint was no doubt made. S.D. 59, 61, 63.
In grave 185 a small flake of obsidian was found.
In reply to a query as to whether the obsidian most
resembled that from the Lipari Islands, Aegean
Islands, or from Abyssinia, the Mineralogical De¬
partment of the South Kensington Museum reports
that it resembles the obsidian from the island of
Samos more closely than any other variety. This
is one more piece of evidence in favour of the Asia
Minor trade, the existence of which had already
been deduced from the presence of silver and emery
in Egypt For, of the known sources of emery,
Smyrna is the one nearest to Egypt, and silver is
not known to occur nearer than Asia Minor, which
country produces it in large quantities. The se¬
quence date of this piece of obsidian is 43-70, i.e.
somewhere in the second pre-dynastic age.
Copper Tray. PI. viii, 24. This was found in
grave 145. It is quite circular and is f inch deep,
with perpendicular sides. It had been wrapped up
in cloth. With it were found the ivory spoon no. 30,
the hairpin no. 35, the two small stone vases nos. 8,
14, pi. viii, and the palette no. 9, pi. xii, with its
pebble, and pottery dating it to S.D. 55-57, in¬
cluding the new shapes P 16 b, 77 c, 81 c, and BP 3,
pis. ix, x.
Rattle. PI. vi, 11. The rattle is of pottery, and
the pellets were baked inside, as there is no hole in
it by which they could have been inserted after¬
wards. Each of the ends is drawn out into a solid
lump, by which it can be held without deadening the
sound. It was found in a child’s grave, no. 27,
S.D. 51-63.
CHAPTER IX
THE WORK AT MEYDUM
By GERALD IVA IN WRIGHT
36. As soon as I had settled into the former season’s
hut, I started by clearing off the 4 metres of blown
sand which lay above the foundations of the brick
walls discovered last year, which showed the position
of the lower temple. Fortunately, by the time
the superincumbent sand was cleared off, the water
level was low enough to enable us to examine the
ground at the level of the bottom of these brick walls.
We traced along the wall running east and west and
found the angle again as shown in pi. ii, Meydutn
and Memphis , and were in hopes of picking up the
broken wall a little further to the south ; but though
we cleared the whole of the area south of the east
and west wall, and east of the great boundary wall,
we were unable to find any trace of it: nor were we
able to find any corresponding angle formed by a
wall running out east from the great boundary wall.
Had we discovered one, we should have been able
to conjecture the size of the temple, but as it is we
are left in an uncertainty. Inside the area, at the
level of the foundation of the walls, were found
various small pieces of red granite and alabaster,
also some fragments of Old Kingdom pottery, which
agree with the foundation deposits of Old Kingdom
pottery found last year at the corners. By digging
pits close together, and by baling out the sand and
water from one into the neighbouring finished one,
we were enabled to get down the remaining six feet
below the water level, and to explore the whole
surface of the marl, which here forms the bed of the
desert However, nothing whatever was produced
from these levels. Hence we must conclude, that
at the time of Sneferu in the iiird dynasty there was
a layer of sand about six feet deep on the rock, and
that on this he built some sort of a small temple;
though it is hard to see where the east and south
walls have gone leaving so little trace. Yet if there
were originally decorations in red granite and ala¬
baster, they also have utterly disappeared, leaving
only half a dozen small fragments to bear witness to
their former existence. That there was a building
here of some sort, is evident by the foundation
THE SECTION OF THE PYRAMID
25
deposits reported last year, Meydum and Memphis ,
pi. xxv.
37. On resuming work at the Pyramid, we were
able to tunnel through the successive coatings of
masonry at the mastaba angle, which go to make up
the body of the Pyramid. These were all found one
after the other, as deduced and drawn in the plan
Medum, pi. ii. Also it was satisfactory to be able
to verify the correctness of the view, there pro¬
pounded, as to the probable existence of another
face inside the uppermost, that is now visible from
the outside. ;On coming to this eighth of the inner
faces, we exposed a considerable surface, and found
that it was banded just as are those that are visible
higher up; the system being to lay a number of
smooth courses and then to build another coat
outside this structure, raising it to the top of the
prepared face ; a thick platform of masonry was then
laid over the whole, breaking joint with the prepared
face. On the top of this platform, which had now
been covered in on all four sides and the top, the
prepared face was once more carried up in the plane
of that inner one far below. Though these prepared
bands in each face are all in the plane of those above
and of those below, yet there is no connection
whatever between any given one and that above or
below it, which seems to be a very remarkable feat
of construction. This is well illustrated in Meydum
and Memphis , pi. i, 2, which gives a view of the
pyramid. Here the two rough bands, which inter¬
vene between the prepared bands, are the remains of
two of these thick platforms which happen to have
been cleared away to the plane of the faces, but
these rough bands are really in no connection what¬
ever with the prepared bands. There were signs of
this system having been employed in building the
fifth, sixth, and seventh mastaba faces, but it would
have been far too laborious an undertaking to clear
large surfaces on each occasion, as we intended to
do this at the eighth face, when it was found. No
doubt the same system would have been found in
the second, third, and fourth, but as we passed under
their foundations, we were only able to observe their
positions without examining their faces and structure.
After examining the face of this eighth coat, we
continued inwards, and at 192 inches we found
another similar face, and again another at 398 inches.
These have now been added to the section of the
pyramid, and will be found on pi. xiv of this volume.
It is noticeable that the ninth of these faces meets
the groundline of the finished pyramid exactly where
the passage passes it. Another coincidence is, that
the south wall of the chamber is exactly half-way
between the base of the innermost face and the axis
of the pyramid. This is not likely to happen by
chance, nor by bad workmanship, but the chamber
was evidently built just out of the axis by design, as
are the chambers built in the masonry of all the
other pyramids except one in the north stone
pyramid of Dahshur. In this case, however, the
three chambers are so crowded together, that one was
obliged to be in that position. The chambers in the
three great pyramids of Gizeh, which are immediately
under the apex, are all subterranean. It is therefore
evident that the chambers in the masonry are built
out of the axis, not because of inability to find the
axis, but because of a wish to avoid the direct
pressure of the superincumbent mass, and as this
necessity is absent below the level of the rock, no
fear of an axial position is then shown. When the
pressure-resisting power of a pent roof had been
discovered and used by Khufu, who, nevertheless,
safeguarded his new system by building his chamber
in the supposed safer position, out of the axis, it was
followed by later pyramid builders, who were then
not afraid to put their chambers, so roofed, imme¬
diately under the apex. Although we continued
our tunnel another 254 inches from this tenth face,
yet we did not find another. Therefore the tenth
mastaba face represents the original size of the
building.
38. In the mastaba of Nefermaat we cleared all
the masonry out of the passage leading from the
tomb chamber to the original entrance. This passage
proved to be 135 inches long and to have been
entirely blocked up with prepared stones fitted and
mortared together. The care with which this work
had been done stood in strange contrast to the
havoc in the funeral chamber, which the builders
were solemnly building in. At the end of the passage
stood a wooden door, pi. xvi, I. It was not a hinged
door, but was composed of two thick planks fastened
together by countersunk crosspieces. On either side
of it stood two wooden door jambs, and to secure
it in place a great wooden beam 16 inches thick was
let down on to it On the top of this beam was
more masonry of prepared stones mortared together.
The door was 2875 inches wide.
We also continued the search for the chamber of
Atet in the north end of this mastaba, and were
fortunate before long in finding the well. Atet’s
chamber had never been entered from the day on
4
26
THE WORK AT MEYDUM
which it had been sealed up, any more than had
that of her husband Nefermaat Her chamber is
entirely different in design from that of Nefermaat.
Instead of being a stone chamber built in a great
rock-hewn pit, it consists merely of a large chamber
hewn out of the soft marl, without even a stone
lining. The workmanship was of the roughest, the walls
never having been smoothed down in any way, nor
were the angles at the corners neatly cut out, but all
was left just as originally hewn. The error of square¬
ness is very great, the width at the north end being 139
inches, but at the south end 162 inches. In the
N.W. corner was left a small bench 42 by 29 inches
square. The chamber was reached by a deep well
ranging from 69 to 72 inches square. The bottom
of the well is 36 inches above the floor of the cham¬
ber, and the mouth of the chamber was closed by a
great stone portcullis, pi. xv. The portcullis stone
presented an unusual feature in the three holes at
the top for the ropes with which it was let down.
These are 4 inches in diameter, and on the outer, or
north, side there is a slot running from each to the
top edge of the stone. The stone was apparently
let down from the north side, as we found the re¬
mains of a wooden beam running across the north
side of the well, and the slots were no doubt intended
to prevent the rope rubbing on the beam in its pas¬
sage over it. The stone also had two slots cut across
its bottom edge, and so was apparently supported
by ropes passing under it, the slots allowing the
ropes to be drawn out from underneath when the
stone was standing in position, pi. xv. The stone
was considerably higher than the chamber, and was
not let down in a groove, but was leaning against
the south side of the well. The whole roof of
the chamber had broken away from just above
the top of the stone; this was no doubt due to its
pressure forcing the great mass right off. In the
comers of the chamber itself just a few square inches
of the ceiling remained, enough to enable the original
height to be measured, but in the doorway not even
so much as that remained, so that the height of that
part had to be dotted in the plan.
A great deal of the mud which had been poured
into the well as a filling, had run into the chamber,
as in the case of Nefermaat. In this mud was found
all that remained of Atet. She had been far worse
treated than her husband, and had been smashed to
chips. No piece of bone more than a couple of
inches long was found in the tomb. Only one per¬
fect pot was found, all the rest being broken—mostly
to tiny fragments no bigger than the bones. Such
as were perfect enough to be drawn will be found on
pi. xvii. Pieces 7, 10 and 11 were found outside
the chamber in the well; nos. 7 and 10 in the filling
at about the level of the top of the stone portcullis,
and no. 11 right at the bottom of the well. Nos. 7
and 11 were slightly burnt inside as if by incense, and
no. 10, and another similar pot which was found inside
the chamber, had ashes in them. These ashes were
just like the ashes from the pre-dynastic cemetery,
for they contained quantities of burnt halfa grass,
and burnt sand and earth, which last came no doubt
from the hearth. No. 12 was found in the chamber,
and contained plaster. Although 2 is so rough and
badly made by hand, yet the rim is so well made
as to seem to be wheel-made, no doubt the result of
the process described under the pre-dynastic pottery
in sect 30. Nos. 3 and 4 show the same perfect neck,
but have been smoothed on the body by scraping
with a knife. Nos. 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 12 and 13 are painted
red with haematite, while nos. 1, 7, 11 were painted
with haematite and polished in the pre-dynastic
style. The clay of 4, 6, 12 was exactly the same as
that of the pre-dynastic Rough-faced pottery. The
body of 1 was a fine close clay bound with straw.
10 was of friable, thick pottery, badly baked and
very crumbly.
Apparently no coffin had been used, as no scrap
of wood was found. In this, her burial resembled
that of Ranefer, and not that of Nefermaat, in
whose tomb broken-up wood was found. In the plan
pi. xv it is noticeable that Atet’s chamber, though
much more nearly oriented than was Nefermaat’s, is
yet not truly in line with the axis of the mastaba.
This plan shows exactly half the mastaba, and will,
with the half published in Meydum and Memphis,
pi. iii, make up the complete mastaba.
39. The xviiith-dynasty cemetery near El Gerzeh
proved to have been made during the middle of the
xviiith dynasty, for a very coarse seal of Thothmes III
was found, and a well-made cowroid of Amenhotep
III, both from grave 75. Though no royal names of
the xixth dynasty were found, the cemetery seems
to have run on to that date by the objects which
were found in it. It had been completely plundered,
and was re-used for burials in the xxiind dynasty,
but these later occupants fared no better than the
first, for they also were plundered. These secondary
burials in the sand filling produced a few amulets
of the class usually assigned to the period from the
xxiind to the xxvith dynasties and two named
DESCRIPTION OF PLATES
27
scarabs, pi. xx, nos. 10 and 11. No. 10 bears the
name of Shishak II, the fifth king of the xxiind
dynasty, and no. 11 bears a private name, Pedubast.
This name occurs as early as Osorkon II, his pre¬
decessor. The secondary burials are therefore well
dated to the xxiind dynasty.
These xxiind-dynasty burials had largely been
made in pottery slipper coffins, into which the body
had been inserted by a hole left in the top side, at
the head end. This hole was covered by a lid with
a face and hands moulded on to it, and then cemented
down. Some of them had a small hole in the end at
the feet, and in general much resembled the Parthian
slipper coffins. They were, however, badly broken up.
In the shaft of grave 45 was an enormous mass of
bones of sheep and of the Lates niloticus.
40. Description of Plates. PI. xvi, no. 3. A group
found in grave 78. From left to right the vessels
are: a bowl of local yellow-brown limestone ; a ser¬
pentine vase in the form of a hes vase in its ring
stand ; a serpentine bowl. On the lower row are a
wooden kohl pot; a pottery vase of foreign shape ;
an alabaster toilet spoon of coarse thick work ; an
alabaster vase with two ear handles, and a bronze
mirror. Below are the two scarabs, one with its
electrum ring still intact, the other without its ring,
but mounted in electrum. The scarabs are drawn
in black and white full size on pi. xx, nos. 4 and 5.
Of the alabasters , those marked 61 were found to¬
gether, but with nothing else beyond a plain silver
ring. No. 69 was found with ordinary xviiith-dynasty
pottery, and no. 20 was found with amulets of the
red and grey-blue faience, so distinctive of the time
of Amenhotep III and Akhenaten.
Clay Models of Women. The two in coffins both
came from grave 9. Each is laid in its mud coffin
with a cover, and one is wrapped in cloth. They
are made of unbaked mud. They are no doubt com¬
parable to the naked pottery faience and clay female
figures of the xiith dynasty, and also to the wooden
models, laid on beds, of the same period. Seeing that
king Neb-hapet-Ra in the xith dynasty had his con¬
cubines buried under the floor of his funerary temple
(The xith-dynasty Temple at Deir el Bahari, pp. 48,
50, etc.), we can only recognize these models as the
survival of the old custom. The other two no doubt
originally also had their coffins.
PI. xvii, A tets pottery, has already been described
in sect. 38.
No. 14 is the inscriptions on the back of the
Ptah-seker-ausar figures of pi. xxii, 11. No. 15 is
a knuckle-bone carved out of ivory. It would naturally
be supposed that this was of Roman date, but if so
it would be the only Roman thing found on the site;
on the contrary it was found with the alabaster bowl
no. 16 of xviiith-dynasty shape, therefore we must
suppose that the knuckle-bone is of this date also,
but unfortunately nothing else was found with it
No. 17 is a small ba bird of alabaster; with it was
found a cylinder bead of yellow paste. No. 18 is of
alabaster.
The next group shows the xviiith-dynasty handled
and foreign pottery. No. 26 is painted in red and
black ; though it is of the native Egyptian hes shape
the decoration is distinctly of Syrian derivation.
Nos. 27 and 28 are painted in red lines. No. 29 is
of a hard reddish clay, and buff coloured on the
outside. Nos. 30 and 3 r are of the usual fine black
ware. No. 32 is of bright red polished ware, and
no. 33 is drab coloured and dully polished.
On pi. xviii nos. 34 and 35 are made of a fine
red clay and this type always has a well in the centre.
This well and its edges are generally covered with
soot stains; possibly they are incense burners.
No. 39 is made of a thick hard body with an
appearance of a slight glazing. It has a lip pinched
in the side, and is thickly covered with soot round
the edges. It is therefore probably a lamp. It was
found with beads and pottery of the xviiith dynasty.
No. 51 had a hole in the bottom much like a modern
flower-pot, perhaps it may be for pressing out oil
or some other liquid such as buzeh beer. Nos. 52,
53, 54, and 55 are little conical vases painted white
on the outside, and 54 and 55 had a very small
and irregular perforation through the point at the
bottom.
PI. xx, nos. 13 and 14 are two broken up steles
of the xviiith dynasty. No. 15 is the inscription from
a canopic vase of limestone, also of the xviiith
dynasty.
Scarabs, etc. No. I is a stamp bearing the name
of Thothmes III. It is of very coarse bad work, and
of a bad blue glaze. It was found with the scaraboid
no. 8 of Amenhotep III, which is of blue-grey glaze.
No 2 shows a curious development of the lotus and
bud ornamentation. No. 3 was found with no. 7 and
the perfect stele no. 13, pi. xxii. Nos. 4 and 5
belong to the group pi. xvi, 3. No. 6 has an uzat
eye on it No. 9 is a copper ring bearing a name
possibly intended for that of Akhenaten. It was
found with a bilbil vase. Nos. 10 and 11 have
already been described in sect. 39 ; nothing at all was
28
THE WORK AT MEYDUM
found with no. io, and with no. n only a few eye
amuleits and two tiny silver hair rings.
PI. xxL A large number of figures of Taurt were
found, a representative group of which is shown at
the top of the plate. The first from the left is of
bone or ivory and was found with 3, which is of
green jasper; 2 is of opaque black glass with
yellow spots, it is flat and the glass was worked in
a very dry pasty condition; 4, 5, 6, and 7 are of
blue faience; 7 is peculiar in showing the two knives,
and in being marked all over the body by a pointed
instrument. Group no. 6 shows a pair of alabaster
rings, an earstud, also of alabaster, showing the two
halves and the shank. Below these are a pair of
lotos pod pendants of opaque blue and yellow striped
glass, and at the side is an ivory kohl pot in the shape
of a palm column, with a copper loop in the lower
part, and a slot in the upper part for the accommoda¬
tion of the stick. The peg of the cover remains, but
the cover has disappeared. No. 7 gives specimens
of the various types of bilbils found in the cemetery.
They are of a very thin, hard fabric of a flaky tex¬
ture. The clay is black, is burnished on the outside,
and is inclined to burn a little reddish. They are
of foreign origin, apparently Syrian, and are of
xviiith-dynasty date.
No. 8 shows the ushabtiu, all very roughly cut
out of limestone.
They are all uninscribed except one, xviiith-
dynasty.
PI. xxii, The Bronzes. No 12 is the group which
was found in the pits on the north side of the Fayum
road. These bronzes were buried with a quantity
of broken pieces of bronze in a large crock about
3 feet under the surface. Unfortunately we are
entirely dependent on internal evidence for the date
as nothing was found with the bronze. The axes
are not unlike xviiith-dynasty examples in shape,
but still more resemble the series of iron axes in the
Petrie Coll., both in shape and weight. These iron
axes date to about the xxvth dynasty. The tanged
chisel at the top of the plate is again of the xviiith-
dynasty style, but heavier, and the socketed edges,
though known as early as Rameses II, begin to
become general about the time of the xxiind-dynasty.
Adzes with this type of socket are also found in iron,
which again would lead one to place this type not
much earlier than the' xxvth dynasty. Therefore by
style the group seems to place itself later than the
xviiith and earlier than the xxvth dynasty. The
socketed adzes make the xxiind dynasty a pro¬
bable date, and this is in consonance with the re¬
use of the neighbouring cemetery under Shishak II
and Osorkon II in the middle of the xxiind dynasty,
which shows that people were once more using this
part of the desert.
The socketed bronze spearheads no. 9 were
found together in a secondary burial in the filling of
one of the deep xviiith-dynasty shafts, but within
4 or S feet of the surface. They will therefore be of
the xxiind-dynasty time. The sockets are made by
bending the thin sheet metal round and so forming
a tube. With them were found two scraps of iron.
One other piece of iron was found in the cemetery.
This other piece was a small crooked bar of worked
iron about 4 inches long, and was wrapped up in a
piece of cloth; with it were found two amulets, one
of Bast, the other of Isis, both of the curious deep-
coloured greenish-blue glaze of the xxiind dynasty.
The stele no. 13 is of a rough yellow-brown limestone,
and was found with the ring, bearing an ankh on
the bezel, no. 3 and the scarab no. 7, pi. xx. No. 10
is a set of pendants. The five tabs are of slate and
apparently represent stitched leather, as in the
electrum girdle of the xviith-dynasty burial from
Qurneh. The birds and Hathor bead are of glaze
and the lotus of carnelian.
The two figures of Ptah-seker-ausar no. 11 are
of the xxiind-dynasty glaze, the larger being also
found with amulets of the xxiind-dynasty style, and
little figures of Bast. The other was indefinite.
They are both standing on crocodiles and have a
scarab beetle on the head. The smaller of the two
appears to wear a long moustache. Each has a very
rough and unintelligible inscription down the plinth
at the back. These inscriptions are to be found on
pL xvii, 14.
CHAPTER X
THE LABYRINTH
By FLINDERS PETRIE
41. The site of this greatest of temples was
finally identified in my work of 1888, when it was
found that the brick chambers planned by Lepsius
were only the ruins of the Roman town of the
destroyers, and that the real Labyrinth had been
so completely ravaged that only a great bed of
chips showed its site. All that has been found
since agrees with this conclusion, and almost every
PLAN OF THE LABYRINTH
29
point of the restoration proposed in Hawara still
seems the most probable view.
This past season I cleared through the great
bank of chips lying along the southern foot of the
pyramid, which was covered by the bed of mud
washed down from the pyramid core of mud bricks.
This ground had from 15 to 24 feet depth of chips
and earth covering. On the rest of the site I turned
over most of the layer of 2 to 4 feet of chips and
sand, but very little was found.
Referring to the plan, pi. xxxii, there will be seen,
close to the pyramid base, the places of two great
shrines of red granite, of about 8 and 13 tons
weight. These are so heavy that they were pro¬
bably moved the shortest distance to where they
lay. The larger, to the west, was face up, head to
north-east. The lesser lay face down, head to the
north. Looking at them on the ground, I estimated
where their original places had probably been, and
have indicated these by broken outlines. A frag¬
ment of another shrine lay to the west of them.
Foundations were met with, south-east of the
pyramid. The brick wall south of these, running
to west and south, is of late date, overlaying a bed
of chips from the destruction of the Labyrinth.
The buildings marked with “ woman ” and “ man ”
in the corners, lay outside of the Labyrinth, as shown
by the symmetry with the wall on the west Near
the south-east corner of the Labyrinth was the great
well, marked on the plan. Close to the axis on the
south lies an immense door-jamb of quartzite sand¬
stone ; estimating its original position, as it was the
outer face of the west jamb, it must have been
exactly in place for a gateway in the axis of the
pyramid. This shows that the main entrance was
from the south, as the usual arrangement of a
pyramid temple would lead us to expect This jamb
now lies exposed on the side of the canal which has
been cut through the site.
On the western side is marked the place where
the seated figure of Amenemhat III was found, some
years ago. This was removed to the Cairo Museum.
Near there I uncovered some foundations here
marked. Further north I uncovered the base of
a wall, a wide foundation bed, and on that the base
of an outer wall. Work on this side is particularly
tedious, as the walls are deeply buried in loose sand
dredged from the canal. The general character of
the site, and the position of the canal (which was
cut through it before the visit of Lepsius) need not
be described here, as it has been fully stated, with
levels, in Hawara, and that account is essential in
dealing with the subject. To the south of the great
outer gate there are stone foundations of a front
wall; and south of that again is a massive brick
temenos wall.
42. From such very scanty remains it is hard
to settle anything. The descriptions by Herodotos,
Diodoros, Strabo and Pliny each give some detail
Tn
m
rm
.11.
A j
.11.
® ® ® ®
—
•
•
•
•
• • • •
•
• •
•
•
• «
•
• •
•
•
• •
•
• • • •
• • •
•
• • • •
•
• •
• •
• •
• •
• •
• •
JLL.
tt-
tt~
RESTORED PLAN OF WESTERN HALF OF LABYRINTH
(Same scale as pi xxxii).
3©
THE LABYRINTH
of value. They were discussed in Hawara, and I
cannot come to any very different conclusion in
looking over them since our later excavations. In
one detail we may improve on the restoration which
was suggested before, as here shown in the plan in
the text The great shrines were probably each
in a separate court. The larger is so close to the
axis that it was doubtless in an axial court. After
allowing for the colonnade around the temple
named by Diodoros (the breadth of which is probably
shown by the two western walls now found), the
space between the shrines suggests that there were
4 on each side of the axis, or a row of 9 in all,
along the foot of the pyramid. This would agree
fairly with the long hall of 27 columns named by
Strabo, there being 3 columns between each of the
entrances to the 9 courts. Each court would be
50 feet wide.
The total number of courts therefore would be
6+6 seen by Herodotos in the public part of the
temple; and the hall of 27 columns and 9 back
courts, the row of peristyle courts all backing on one
wall, seen by Strabo. As I proposed before, the
difference in descriptions is due to the 6 + 6 courts
seen by Herodotos having been destroyed by the
time of Strabo, who only saw the inner parts then
remaining. There were thus 21 courts in all, and
this tallies well enough with their being equal to the
former number of nomes (Strabo); the nomes were
about 21 or 22 in number at the time of the xiith
dynasty. The restoration given in Hawara there¬
fore should be modified by placing 9 instead
of 6 courts along the back wall, as here shown ;
the hall of 27 columns before them, and the
double set of 6 courts facing south and 6 north,
door opposite to door, still seems to be the best
rendering of the ancient accounts, in view of the
physical conditions.
I regret not to be able to reconcile with the site
the proposed restoration by my friend, Prof. J. L.
Myres (Annals of Archeology and Anthropology, iii,
134). But it is hardly necessary to discuss the
details of the paper here, as I am informed that
the purpose of Prof. Myres was to recover what
Herodotos visualised, without treating it as a restora¬
tion of the actual building on the delimited site.
The restoration given here seems in its general
form the most consistent with the area, with
the character of Egyptian plans, and with the
descriptions left to us. In considering any injured
building, the first limitation is the size of archi¬
traves and roofs, then the necessary thickness of
columns and walls, the pairs of symmetric columns,
and the whole bounded by the limitations of the
site, and the nature of similar buildings.
There is very little trace of any restoration
or addition to the Labyrinth after the time of
Amenemhat III. The name of Sebekneferu his
daughter is clearly added in a rougher manner to
the original name of the father on the granite
capitals; a piece showing this was sent to the Cairo
Museum. There is no trace of any later ruler here
until the Ptolemaic inscription given in pi. xxxviii,
in letters about 3 inches high. On the plain, north¬
west of the pyramid, lies a much-weathered block
of granite, as it has probably Iain since Roman
times. I suspected a trace of lettering upon it, and
by examining it inch by inch when the sun was
low I gradually recovered this inscription, showing
that it was part of a dedication by a Ptolemy and
a queen Kleopatra. This must certainly have been
an added inscription on a main architrave of the
Labyrinth; and it shows that at least as late as
Kleopatra I, 193 B.G, the Labyrinth was still in royal
care, and probably being restored in some degree.
Soon after that, ruin fell upon it, and in Pliny’s time
it was “ marvellously ravaged.”
43. The two principal objects found in these
excavations were the shrines of red granite. The
positions of these, as they lay overthrown, are shown
on the plan (pi. xxxii), with the positions where
they are estimated to have originally stood, dotted in
broken line. They may have been shifted further,
but, fallen over as they are, they must have been
shifted at least as far as is here shown. They
probably stood each in a chapel, such chapels being
placed in a row along the back of the temple A
fragment of another shrine, of the same scale, lay
also at about the same distance apart to the west
Each of the shrines contained two figures (pi. xxiii),
both apparently of a king. One figure has the
rounded wig, holds the ankh in each hand, and has
the right arm across the chest, the left hanging down.
The other figure is draped in the striped head-dress,
and had both arms straight down. The work is fairly
good, but not highly finished. Similarly a shrine
with two figures of Neferhotep was found at Karnak,
now in the Cairo Museum. The perfect shrine from
the Labyrinth is also now in Cairo; the broken one
figured here is at Ny Carlsberg. The Cairo shrine is
86 inches high, 62 wide, and 41 thick, weighing about
eight tons. The Carlsberg shrine is about 102 high
STATUES OF THE LABYRINTH
31
and 78 wide, having a large projection of unwrought
granite on one side. At the time the plates were
prepared, the Cairo shrine lay face down, and could
not be photographed, the Carlsberg shrine lay in a pit
where the sun could only reach half of it, and where
the camera could with difficulty be placed near it.
That these shrines are part of the original furniture
of the Labyrinth can hardly be questioned. There is
no trace' of subsequent additions to the Labyrinth;
and such shrines were very considerable works, which
a restorer would scarcely add unless he were re¬
building a great temple. The style of the figures
agrees well to what might be expected. The attitude
with the arms hanging straight down, and with the
striped head-dress, is known in the xiith dynasty.
Beside the granite shrines, many fragments of
statues were found scattered over the ground to the
east and south-east of the shrines, as far as the eastern
line of the pyramid. These were nearly all cut in
a very hard marbly white limestone; they had
evidently been the sacred figures in the chapels of the
Labyrinth, and, as such early figures of the gods are
hitherto unknown, they are of unusual interest. The
more complete are shown on pis. xxiv, xxv. The
first is of Hathor, with a human face and cow’s ear ;
the body seems to have been mummiform, as seen in
the more complete figure at the end of pi. xxv. The
wig is 14-8 inches high (Cairo).
The statues of Sebek were naturally the most
common. The least broken of them are half-lengths,
but all have the snout knocked off. The half-length
(xxiv, 3) is 29-5 inches high (Cairo). As this is not
the full half of the figure, only reaching to about the
elbow, the complete statue was apparently rather over
6 feet high. The figure xxiv, 2 is 171 inches on
the wig; xxiv, 4 is 22-1 to the arm. Both of the
lower figures have held a sceptre in the left hand,
of which the traces are seen on the front of the body;
no. 4 has also the remains of an upright staff down
the front of the shoulder.
A very remarkable figure is that of a goddess
with a tall head-dress composed of four palm branches
or feathers (xxv, 4), of which the head-dress is given
on a larger scale above (xxv, 2). On the forehead
there rise two horns or tufts of hair across the base
of the front branch. The face was human, and the
body mummiform. The length of the piece is
40 inches, the width of the shoulders 17 7 inches ;
the figure was therefore life-size (Cairo). The con¬
dition of this shed some light on the history of the
temple. The face had been bashed off, pro¬
bably in the Hyksos period, but the statue had
remained upright, as shown by the accumulations
from the bats upon the top and broken parts. It
appears not to have been overthrown until it was
buried in the Roman age. This may be a goddess
of palms, who is indicated on a late terra-cotta as
a female seated between two palm trees.
Statues of the king were also common, but they
had been far more frequently destroyed than the
figures of the gods. One torso shows the king
holding the flail (xxv, 3), wearing a collar of sixteen
rows of small beads. This is 12 9 inches across the
breasts (reburied). A large head-dress (xxv, 1) had
probably come from a royal figure ; the wide-spread
thin horns are unusual. This is 137 inches across
the feathers, and is now at Ny Carlsberg. Other
fragments of statues were the knob of a crown,
8‘3 wide; an arm, 8‘5 wide at the armpit, and iro
deep, 29 inches from the top of the shoulder to above
the forearm (Ny Carlsberg); an arm 10 wide at the
armpit, 10 9 deep ; a knee about 14 wide, 12 from
the cap to the attachment of the back; a knee 5 3
wide ; an ankle 2'3 wide; great toes 2'5 wide and 17
wide.
Beside all these in the hard limestone, some
pieces of a red granite colossus were found near the
south-east corner of the pyramid (pi. xxvii, I, 2).
The foot is 13*1 inches wide across four toes; the
ankle of the other foot is 117 wide. This implies a
statue of about twenty to twenty-five feet high; the
limestone figures were usually about ten to fifteen
feet high. There were also fragments of lesser
statues in black granite, red granite, and quartzite.
An unusual group is partly restored on pi. xxvi.
It represented the king seated, with two goddesses
on either side, who hold a fish hanging from each
hand. These fishes mark the goddesses as belonging
to the Fayum lake, probably the deities of the fishing
towns on the shore. Around the whole group, which
was 82 inches wide, there was a sort of projecting
hood, unlike anything known elsewhere. The frag¬
ments were reburied.
A large block of hard limestone, found at the
south-east corner of the pyramid, had figures of two
crocodiles carved on it in the round (xxvii, 4), and
traces of a third (reburied). I concluded that it was
part of a row of the sacred crocodiles of various
localities, placed side by side on an altar or high
table of stone. On the north of the pyramid, by
some Roman lime-kilns, blocks of stone were found
left by the lime-burners; among them was a slab
32
THE LABYRINTH
with the names of Sebek of various places (xxvii, 2).
“ Sebek lord of Khau " is apparently of Khaui named
in Boulaq Pap. Ill, 5, 21 ( Brugsch , Diet. Geog. 554).
“ Sebek lord of Mert-neter " may be the divine lake
of the pyramid, see B.D.G. 282. “ Sebek lord of Bau”
is not known in connection with the Fayum. Now
the distance apart of these names (6'8 inches) is just
the same as that of the Sebek figures, and thus it
seems that these were the names placed over the
table of Sebek crocodiles, shown here on the plate
below the names.
44. We now turn from the statues to the reliefs and
architectural pieces. Of the great scenes which
must have covered the walls of the multitude of
chapels, scarcely anything is left. The snout of a
Sebek figure (xxvii, 6) is 7 3 inches from the back
tusk to the tip (Ny Carlsberg). A curious piece is
that with the king kneeling in a boat opening the
door of a shrine containing a sacred tree (xxix, 2).
This was doubtless a representation of a sacred bark
with figures upon it, such as are commonly seen in
later sculptures (Cairo). Other pieces give the Floras
on Nubti name of Amenemhat III (xxix, 3), and the
title of Horus in Shedti (xxix, 4), showing well the
bucranion upon the shrine. This was the distinctive
sign of the Fayum shrine, and appears upon the seal
of the Fayum of the time of Mena (Tarkhan 1912),
and down to the latest carvings, in which it was
generally misunderstood.
Lesser pieces are grouped on pi. xxviii, showing
the name of Amenemhat, royal titles, Sebek shedt, the
shrine and bucranion, and usual signs. These are all
coloured, with the usual red ochre, yellow ochre, blue
frit and green frit.
Two large blocks of hard white limestone
(xxviii) were the bases of statues. One of them
names Amenemhat III as beloved of Horus in
Shedti, with a title partly broken away. The other
names the king as “ beloved of Rohes-hotep who is
in the pure fields.” Rohes, “ the terrible mouth,” was
the name of the crocodile worshipped at Bergt, east
of El Lahun (Lanzotie, Diet. Mit: Pap. Boulaq I, 4).
At that place Ra triumphed ( hotep ) over his enemies
(B.D.G. 197). Rohes-hotep would therefore be the
god of the entrance to the Fayum.
We may here note how the scanty remains all
point to a mass of local worships concentrated in
the Labyrinth. The palm-branch goddess, the fish¬
bearing goddesses of the lake, the local god Rohes-
hotep, the row of crocodiles with the names of places
above them, all of these show the collection of the
minor worships of the whole district in this great
temple. Such accords well with what is indicated
by the traditions about the Labyrinth and by the
ample detail shown in the great Fayum papyrus.
A few other blocks of hard white limestone sculp¬
ture were found which were too much broken to be
intelligible. One block, 46 high, 56 wide, and 17
inches thick, had in low relief on the face the head
and shoulders of a man holding a semi-circular fan
22 inches high; it was a minor figure at the side of a
half-relief colossus, of which some fragments lay near.
The architectural fragments were even more
scanty than the sculpture. Part of a granite thresh¬
old of a doorway has the base of a jamb upon it,
15 inches wide on the inscribed face, with a roll 3
inches wide and 3 deep on the outer side. This lay
at the south-east, but it agreed with a piece of granite
jamb opposite the pyramid entrance, with an inscribed
face 15‘8 wide, and a roll 4 2 wide outside of that.
On the canal bank lies a great gate jamb of yellow
quartzite sandstone, evidently from an axial gate at
the entrance to the Labyrinth (see plan, “ jamb,”
pi. xxxii). It has the usual titles of “ the Horus on
Nubti, suten bati, Ra-ne-maat, beloved of Sebek-
shedti.” The n in the cartouche has sixteen
waves in it
Beside the columns which were published by
Lepsius in the Denkmdler some other fragments were
found. These were measured on the colonnets so as
to recover the diameter of the whole. A red granite
column had eight colonnets, with a diameter at the
buds of 36'5 in the body, 48 9 to the edges; and 30
inches lower down 38 0 and 53 0 diameter. A white
limestone colonnet gave a diameter at the top of the
base sepal of 30 8 in the body, or 44 6 over all. The
bands under the capital of a granite column were 44'8
inches diameter; each of the three bands 4 '6 wide.
A quartzite base of a column, near the entrance to
the pyramid, had a cross at the centre of it; the
radii measured 486 and 48'8 inches on the top
surface, and the curve extended about 5 inches out¬
side of that. The block was 36 inches thick, and
must have weighed 12 tons when whole. Some
curious small architectural fragments were found,
examples of which are on pi. xxix, left side. At the
top are pieces of a fluted half-column, which was
attached at the back. On it was a square capital
with the under edge sloping upward at 32 0 . The
only place for such an attached column would have
been in the columnar filling of a large tympanum, the
capitals sloping with the curved top of the tympanum.
SURROUNDING STRUCTURES
33
Such tympana with relief fillings are in the chapels
at Abydos, xixth dynasty, and parts of an exquisite
ivory model of such a form in open work are in the
Louvre, dating from the Old Kingdom. It is quite
likely then that such an architectural decoration
would be used in the Labyrinth. It shows, how¬
ever, that the roofs of the chapels were barrel-vaulted,
and the ends filled in with this decorative columnar
relief. The diameter of these attached columns is
5'i inches, with 17 flutings in the half-circle. The
flutings are painted red and the capitals green
(Ashmolean and Ny Carlsberg). There were also
polygonal attached columns, as shown below on the
plate. The lower part with 16 flat faces left white;
the upper part with faces slightly hollowed and
painted black. These were 872 inches face to face,
and tapered one-tenth of the diameter in 44 or 46
inches length. The white polygon was 9 6 to 9’8
inches high. The hollowed faces were ‘02 to ’05
deep. As they were attached columns, they probably
also belonged to tympana.
Some pieces of semi-circular roll were found, 61
to 6 3 wide and projecting 37 ; about double the size
of that on the doorways, and perhaps from around a
gateway. The fragments which were not brought
away were left in the ruins if too large to move; the
portable pieces were buried in a pit outside of the
chip bank west of the pyramid.
45. Beside the remains of the Labyrinth some
adjacent buildings were also examined. On the plan
will be seen at the south-east a long mound of yellow
marl. This still stands 8 or 10 feet high in one part;
I was told by the residents that it was originally a
high mound all over, but at present only small por¬
tions remain showing its original extent This marl
overlies broken buildings of Ptolemaic age, and some
early Roman pottery was found in it. This implies
the excavation of a large subterranean space in
Roman times, and I naturally connected that with
Pliny’s mention of great catacombs of the crocodiles
in a wing of the Labyrinth. If we could trace the
source of this great mass of marl we should find the
Roman catacombs, which would probably lead to
those of earlier age. We accordingly tried all over
the region for any large opening, and, in course of so
doing, found some interesting buildings, but did not
succeed in finding the source of the marl. All of the
walls in the south-east of the plan were entirely found
in the course of the deep clearances then made.
Lastly I traced some blocks of marl lying further
west, and, searching for the source, we found the
circular well. This was evidently a water-well, as it
had no means of descent; the volume of it would
not at all account for the great mass of marl, the
mystery of which yet remains unsolved.
The main work found in this region was a double
wall with a filling of chips between the two. This
runs for about a quarter of a mile east, and only the
inner end of it is shown in the plan. The north wall
is well preserved, 139 inches thick, with a batter of
1 in 4 on the outside; it is rather overhanging, and
rough inside, showing that it was always intended as
a retaining-wall. The southern wall had nearly all
been carried off for bricks, leaving only broken bricks
behind ; with difficulty I found enough left in one
place to fix the position.
The purpose of this structure must have been
for a long raised causeway up to the front of the
Labyrinth. It was certainly of the xiith dynasty, as
the little chamber built against it had a red, black,
and white dado, like that in the houses at Kahun ;
and against the wall lay a thick bed of broken pottery
of the xiith dynasty. Here it was that we found the
pieces of great stands of pottery (xxxiii, 8), the model
vases (25-29, 33, 34, 37, 39, 40, 49, 68, 69), the ring
stands (70-74, 81), the pretty flask, coloured red with
white bands (106), and some other forms all marked S.
This raised causeway ended at a sand bed, with
one or two courses of substructure lying on it This
is opposite to the massive substructure of a wall
visible on the other bank of the canal, here shown to
the west of it, and joined by dotted lines, giving the
probable position of the wall. The causeway ran to
the outside of this wall, evidently to a road which led
along the front of the stone wall of the Labyrinth ;
but it was inside the great brick temenos wall, of
which I saw a piece to the south of this (marked on
the plan).
Another curious structure, here, lay to the north of
the yellow marl mound. Only the brick foundation
enclosures of the sand bed were found, as all of the
stone building had been carried away and only chips
left behind. The main building must have been
about 90 feet wide and somewhat longer. I searched
for foundation deposits to see if the building could be
dated. In the N.W. corner lay the bones of a woman,
feet east, head west, lying on the back. She was
rather a small woman, between 30 and 40 years
old, judging by the teeth. The body was intact
from the feet up to the shoulders, except that the
spine was separated about the middle, and one
vertebra turned half round. But above the shoulders
5
34
THE LABYRINTH
there was a gap of 17 inches before reaching the
skull, only two neck vertebrae lying between. The
skull lay turned round in a recess in the western wall.
The recess was evidently made for it; and if we are
to deny that this was a sacrificial interment we must
assume: (1) that a chance burial took place in a corner
of foundation after the building was destroyed, the
brick wall being scooped out to hold the head ; and
(2) plunderers had found it, cleared the whole grave
of sand, and dragged down the body, parted from the
head, for 17 inches without shifting the legs or arms
from the interment posture, with the hands lying
evenly on the front of the pelvis.
The small chance of such a burial and plunder
hypothesis is reduced to still less by the burial in the
south-west corner of the same building. Here we
found the leg and foot bones of an old person, very
arthritic, apparently a man by the size. These
bones were buried in the clean sand like the woman’s
burial. Are we to believe that this burial has like¬
wise been plundered, and all the trunk and upper
parts removed ? Neither burial agrees to any pro¬
bable course of plundering; and the conditions
observed agree much better to these being human
sacrifices made at the foundation of the building. 1
tried to find the other two corners, but could not
succeed in tracing them. There lies about eight or
ten feet of rubbish of later buildings over these foun¬
dations.
As regards the date of this building, after the
stone work was entirely removed, burials took place
amid the ruins in pottery coffins of the xviiith-dynasty
style, with beads of that age. Hence the stone work
had been entirely removed before the close of the
xviiith dynasty ; so the building must have belonged
to the xiith dynasty and be a part of the general
work connected with the Labyrinth.
On the plan, pL xxxii, will be seen, in the middle
of this building, the site of “ Fire Altars.” Amid a
great mass of limestone chips, which filled the space
between two brick walls, there were dozens of frag¬
ments of model stands bearing bowl lamps on them
and tongues of flame, carved in limestone. These I
fitted together, as far as I could, and photographed in
groups, as in the upper part of pi. xxviii. There were
two different forms ; one with a flat back carved only
on one side, shown to the left hand ; the other carved
in relief on both sides, shown to the right The total
height was 17^9 inches to the top of the bowl, or 13-5
without the flat pedestal. The fragments found
represent but a small part of the whole; there are
22 bowls in all and 16 flames, but only 3 flames
fit the bowls, thus indicating that we have only
ys or of the whole, say £. From this we should
conclude that there were about 130 bowls in all.
As they are about 3$ inches wide, there must have
been about 38 feet length. There was about an
equal amount of the flat back (15 bowls) and of the
double relief (13 bowls); but there were three end
bowls of each type. This suggests that there was
one end to ten bowls, or that they were in rows of
twenty. We therefore come to the idea of there
having been three rows of about 20 bowls of each
of the types, each row about six feet long. As they
represent bowls with flames, or lamps, it seems
probable that they were arranged in some manner
before a shrine of Sebek to represent ever-burning
lamps or incense. These lamps, and the great mass
of small offering vases which had been thrown away
just to the south of this building, against the causeway,
point to there having been a popular shrine of Sebek,
outside of the great stone Labyrinth on ,the south.
This may well have been in connection with the
catacombs of the crocodiles mentioned by Pliny.
(Ashmolean, Manchester, Univ. Coll. London.)
These model lamp bowls explain for the first time
a form of bowl which has often been found in the
remains of the xiith dynasty, such as this year in tomb
52, see pi. xxxv, 112. As Mr. Mackay found some
at Mazghuneh this year, we may refer to them as
types, on pi. xlvi, left hand. Below them are some
of these model bowls from Hawara, with the flames
restored in place. The form of the bowls and of the
models is identical, the same contour, the brim, the
slight flat hollow within it, and the central cup for
the flame. It cannot be doubted that these stone
bowls are lamps. But what is the sense of the pecu¬
liar form? 1 have long supposed that the ancient
Egyptian lamp was a floating wick in oil resting on
water. This is the regular lamp of the middle ages
and modern times in Egypt. The use of the water
below the oil has been forgotten when glass lamp
bowls, or modern glass tumblers, are used; but the
water was essential when the vessels were pottery
bowls, as these being wetted would not take up the
oil. Thus we can see the use of the shallow flat space
around the oil-cup in the stone bowl, as it would hold
water to keep the stone block moist, and so prevent
the oil soaking away into the stone. Herodotos
mentions the use of salt water in lamps ; the purpose
of the salt being to hinder the evaporation of the
water.
PYRAMID MODEL
35
Among the broken stone in the same region as the
fire altars was a limestone model of the Hawara
pyramid. The angle is exactly that of some of the
casing fragments, which is about three degrees flatter
than the angle of most of the pyramids. This model
(pi. xxvii, base) is broken below, so the present size
of nine inches square does not at all show what were
its original dimensions. (Univ. Coll., London.) Such
a model of a pyramid being found here, corroborates
the meaning of a stone, cut in steps, found at Mem¬
phis, which I had already thought might be a model
of the step-pyramid of Saqqareh. (Univ. Coll.
London.)
CHAPTER XI
THE TOMBS OF THE XIIth DYNASTY
By FLINDERS PETRIE
46. A great cemetery lay to the north of the
pyramid of Hawara on the desert plain. The first
use of this ground must have been under Amenem-
hat III, so the well-cut rock tombs date from the
latter part of the xiith dynasty. These tombs were
in many instances re-used in the xxiiird dynasty, and
for later crocodile burials. Over the parts near to the
pyramid the superficial burials of the Roman age
were laid, from which the gilt cartonnage and painted
portraits were recovered. Excavations were made
during the work at Hawara, opening many of the
rock tombs. Not one was intact, and very few objects
were found in them. The plans of some of the tombs
are given, all with north upward, on pi. xxxvii. The
pit is usually about twenty feet deep, and of a long form
to allow of lowering a coffin. The chamber is either to
the south or north of the pit, never to the east or west.
The early idea of a recess along the side of the pit,
which was followed from the prehistoric down to the
xith dynasty, had been entirely abandoned by the end
of the xiith dynasty. Where there are remains of a
chapel on the surface, the false door for the offerings
is placed to the east of the chamber below.
The chamber may be symmetrical, or may expand
on the western side for the coffin. As in the xith
dynasty at Tarkhan, the coffin front faced in no. 64
to the east, as shown by the eyes painted at the head
end of the side. On the eastern side of the chamber
may be a recess cut in the rock, as in nos. 54, 61.
The more elaborate type has a slope to the passage
(no. 61), leading down to the stone coffin, while the
chamber expands above the coffin with a bench in the
rock on each side, which had been lined with fine
limestone slabs. This is the type of the great tombs
which I opened here in 1888, and which could not be
cleared owing to the rise of the water level.
47. As all these tombs had been plundered, and
even the wrappings re-used on Roman mummies (see
the other volume of this year), not much can be settled
of the original arrangements. In tomb 51 the canopic
heads (pi. xxxi) were found at the places marked C,
and the vases at the letters V. The canopic jars and
heads were at the letters C in tomb 57. In 51 was a
pan full of little model cups just at the entrance. In
57 the statuette or ushabti of white limestone (pi. xxx,
upper) lay in the N.E. corner.
In tomb 64 at A stood a large jar of the form
xxxv, 100; B was a small coffin of a child placed on
the top of the large one of Bebut, marked D ; C was
the coffin of another child, both the children were
about three feet high. The coffin was inscribed in green
paint, with the usual formula to Osiris on one side,
and to Anubis on the other, see base of pi. xxxvii.
Beneath the long lines were four columns of the
speeches of the four sons of Horus, also of Ra, Geb,
Shu and Tefnut. On the head end is the devotion to
the cycle of the gods. It was not in sufficiently
good condition to be brought away. The body was
55 inches long, in the usual position, on the back ;
a half brick lay east of the head, and another east of
the knees. In the coffin C the child had a shell and
two beads on the neck string, and a scarab inscribed
nefer desher nefer with a ring on the right hand.
These were the only ornaments on these three bodies.
The groups of pottery found in these tombs were
as follows: In tomb 51, fig. xxxiii, 32; in 52, figs.
9, 16, 23, 24, 77, 82, 83, 84, 86, 96, 108, in, 112;
in 53, figs. 3, 7, 80, 101 ; in 57, figs. 22, 79, 89, 94, 104,
107, 109 ; in 58, figs. 11, 97 ; in 59, figs. 5, 88, 95 ; in
60, figs. 2, 13, 18, 90 ; in 61, figs. 20, 35, 41, 46 ; in 62,
fig. 87; in 63, figs. 14, 17, 19,43, 44, 47. 54. 56,60,67;
in 65 a stone sarcophagus, with figs. 93, 103, 110;
in 66, figs. 11, 62, 76, 97, 104; in 67, fig. 6; in 68,
figs. 85, 91.
Turning to the photographs, on pi. xxx at the
left side is a complete group found with a burial of a
girl, tomb 58. This had remained intact owing to its
not being in a usual tomb, but buried in a pit about
eight feet deep. The pottery at the top is of the ordinary
xiith-dynasty style, thin brown bowls and a round-
bottomed vase. The model couch is a unique
example of a couch of this age, only those of the
ist and the xviiith dynasties being hitherto known.
36
THE TOMBS OF THE XIIt* DYNASTY
It is carefully made, the length being 1929 and
19*35 inches, the breadth 9*20 and 9 24 inches. The
sides were strutted apart by curved pieces of wood,
allowing for the sag of the webbing. The feet have
become entirely conventional, from the old bull’s-leg
pattern, and turned toward each other. The head
board is retained by two bent wood angle-pieces.
The coffin was of stuccoed wood, painted blue on
a yellow ground, with two eyes on the east side with
usual formulae, and name of Sit-rannut. It was too
much eaten by termites to be removed. The body
lay on the back, head to north, wrapped in about
twenty turns of linen. At the right foot was the box
with sliding lid. In the box was a necklace of small
black seeds; between every pair of seeds hung a
thread with three seeds, and a small shell at the
end. There was also a bracelet of 12 separate
sections, each of 18 lines of five seeds. With these
was also the blue glazed dove, the scarab with
spirals, the four-lobed bead, and the little model vase
of wood. Beneath the box was a necklace of 78
helix shells. At the left foot was the wooden female
figure, which is well carved, and painted yellow, with
black wig. With it was a great quantity of clay
beads made up as a wig for the figure; also some
green ball beads. The model couch lay over these
objects at the feet. The whole of the objects are in
University College, London.
At the right of pi. xxx are two hard white lime¬
stone figures, which appear to be derived from the
ka statues representing the deceased ; but from their
size, and mummy form, they might be classed as
ushabtis. The upper one has a du suten hotep to
Osiris for the ka of the lady of the house Hont-
nofert (Manchester). The lower one has the same
formula to Osiris, lord of Rustau, to grant the
deceased to come forth walking happily in the under¬
world, that he may behold Ra at his coming forth in
the horizon (Cairo). Such figures are unknown
before, and point to the brown serpentine figures
of this age being strictly ka figures rather than
ushabtis.
On pi. xxxi are shown the canopic jars. The
complete set of heads from tomb 51 has three
bearded and one beardless; such a separation is
known in other groups of this age, as for instance
that in the tomb of Khnumu-aa at Rifeh. There
were no inscriptions on the jars in this tomb. In
tomb 57 were the two inscribed jars of Iu-nofer.
On a fragment of a coffin was the name Akhet-
hotep, and by the side of it lay the painted lime¬
stone macehead, and the beads of a flail painted
green, shown at the base of pi. xxxi.
48. A few objects of later date than the xiith
dynasty were also worthy of note. Beside many
coffins of the xxiiird-xxvth dynasties of poor work,
one group of beads was found together, of about the
xxvth dynasty, shown at the base of pi. xxxi. The
uza eyes are of agate and blue paste, the scarabs of
black jasper, blue paste and rock-crystal, the Bes
heads of blue and green glaze, the pectoral of blue
glaze has figures of Isis, Hat-hor, Mut, Nebhat, and
Sekhmet The pebbles are of white and brown
quartz. Some small glass beads have blue and white
eyes. The whole is characteristic of the age shortly
before the xxvith dynasty.
A crouching figure of hard white limestone was
found lying in a long sloping passage which probably
led to a tomb of the xiith dynasty, but as it went
under water it could not be examined. The figure
is shown in the volume on “ Roman Portraits ”; the
surface is a good deal worn, but the inscription can
still be read, as at the base of pi. xxxviii. The
four columns on either hand are those on the sides;
the two middle columns are down the back.
A remarkable piece of Ramesside sculpture was
brought from Koptos by one of my workmen, see top
of pi. xxxviii. It represents the ka figure of
Ramessu III (perhaps to be called R. IV, see
Daressy in Rec. Trav. xxxiv) fanning the king
himself with the long feather fan. The inscription
is only an adoration of Ra. That the ka could thus
be shown acting separately from the king points to a
strange conception of it Is it possible that the
children born on the same day as the king shared
in his horoscope, and were regarded as his doubles ?
To prevent them rivalling the king they might be
kept with him as his servants, and so actually wait
upon him as here shown.
The inscription of Kleopatra is noted in the history
of the Labyrinth.
In the mummies of Roman age, described in the
other volume, thin plates of gold are often found
upon the tongue, see pi. xxxvi. As I noticed that
some of these were just equal in weight, Sir William
Ramsay kindly had them weighed in the chemical
department at University College. It then appeared
that there were two groups, one based on the well-
known gold standard of the pek, the other on the
sikhir, the Egyptian and Babylonian standards. The
plates are shown on pi. xxxvi, with their weights and
the multiples of the units. The pek unit is multiplied
GOLD TONGUE PLATES
37
by 2, 3 and 4. The sikktr unit is given as a whole
and a half; also as 3 and 4 sixtieths, and an eighth,
of the shekel. The patterns show a different treat¬
ment of the two standards: the shekel plates are
cross-ribbed or triangular, and only one form is
common to both standards, nos. 2 and 11. These
plates were distributed : nos. 6 and 15 to University
College, London ; 2 and 16 to Manchester; 1 and 10
to the Anthropological Museum, Oxford; u to
Bolton; 3 to Leicester; 13 to Aberdeen; 4 to
Glasgow ; 8 and 14 to Brussels ; 7 to Munich ; 12 to
Boston ; 5 to Chicago. It is much to be hoped that
such gold plates in other museums will be weighed
and compared:
CHAPTER XII
THE CEMETERIES OF MAZGHUNEH
By ERNEST MACK A Y
49. The district entrusted to me this season was
a tract of ground bounded by the American conces¬
sion, 1 kilometre north of the village of Bernasht, and
by the Government reserve 1 kilometre south of the
southern pyramid of Dahshur, the total length being
about five miles, in which many small cemeteries,
ranging from the ivth dynasty to Ptolemaic times,
were uncovered. The whole district has been ran¬
sacked by ancient and modem plundering; and, with
the exception of a few instances, the graves had been
so badly disturbed that they were rendered com¬
paratively useless for recording purposes, and I was
therefore only able to recover the plans of the more
interesting. The most valuable item of my work in
this district was the finding of a hitherto unknown
pyramid tomb of the xiith dynasty, the description
of which will be found in Chapter XIII. Also
another large pyramid tomb of the same age was
cleared and planned; this will be seen to possess
several unique features in its construction. These
two tombs have been named the north and south
Mazghuneh pyramids, as they lie nearly opposite the
railway station of that name.
Unfortunately I was not able to recover the
names of the persons for whom these pyramids were
built, but the similarity in the construction of their
tombs to certain parts in the tomb of the Hawara
pyramid indicates that they were built for Amenem-
hat IV and Queen Sebek-neferu. The northern
pyramid, being the largest, was probably intended
for the former ruler, but it is practically certain that
he must have been buried elsewhere, for the tomb
had never been used. The evidence for this is
gathered not from the tomb having been left
unclosed, but from the entire absence of any trace of
a burial and of any funeral vases, either of pottery
or of stone.
The cemeteries in the district were invariably
found placed on the slopes of the small hills that lie
close to the cultivation. Some of these hills are
locally named, and I have therefore thought it best
to call the cemeteries after the names of the hills
upon which they lie.
The first cemetery north of Bernasht occurs on a
hill known as Kom el Howa, or “ the mound of the
wind.” This comprised a number of Ptolemaic
burials, all of which had been badly ransacked. The
graves were oriented north to south, and the bodies
placed on their backs in a long recess on the west of
the grave.
50. A little north of this kom was another hill
that went by the name of Abu Shalbyah. The latter
is the name of a certain variety of Nile fish, though
why this hill should have been so designated is not
easy to understand.
The burials on the north of this hill were of the
vith dynasty, and beyond pottery shown on pi. lii and
a few beads nothing was found. The graves were cut
in the heavy marl of the hill, the way into them being
by sloping passages roughly made. These will be
now dealt with in detail.
Tomb A.S. (3) (pi. li). Disturbed. Entrance to
tomb was by sloping passage 264 inches long x 46
inches wide, oriented N.E.-S.W. Roof of the passage
destroyed. A chamber was cut on the N.W. of the
way at its end, measuring 139 inches long x 60 inches
wide x 52 inches high. This was formerly closed at
its mouth by a walling of brick 29 inches thick, the
bricks averaging 12 x 5'$ x 31 inches. The burial
was that of a woman placed with her head to N.W.
Traces of linen clothing badly rotted were found. A
bronze mirror was seen at the N.E. of the head, and
steatite beads of cylindrical form were scattered about
the grave, together with uninscribed mud jar sealings.
Two pottery jars were found inside the wall at the
S.W. corner filled with mud (pi. lii, 4 and 5).
Tomb A.S. (4) (pi. li). Disturbed. Entrance to
grave by sloping passage oriented N.E.-S.W., 214
inches long x 63J inches wide. Roof of passage
destroyed. The paving was cut into rough steps,
hard nodules of stone being left in the marl. Chamber
38
THE CEMETERIES OF MAZGHUNEH
173 inches long x 116 inches wide x 57 inches high.
The N.W. end of chamber was barred off by a brick
walling 14 inches thick, and standing I5§ inches
high. This left a space of 43 inches between the end
of the chamber and the brick wall. At the N.E. of
this apartment there was a pit cut in the floor 93
inches long x 39 inches wide x 38 inches deep,
obviously intended to receive a body. The entrance
to the chamber was closed by a brick wall 12 inches
thick, built of bricks placed on their edges, as a row
of headers. The average dimensions of these were
I2‘0 x 61 x 2 8 inches. No bones were found in
this tomb, but a quantity of broken pottery was
present, as well as a bronze mirror, a model chisel,
fragments of two wooden statuettes, and a few car-
nelian and glazed beads of cylindrical form. All
these were found scattered about the tomb.
Tomb A.S. (7) (pi. li). This grave was the largest
and most important found on this hill, but, like the
others, had been entered and cleared. The entrance
was from the south, by means of a short open passage
III inches long x 55 inches wide. This led into an
open courtyard irregularly shaped, the floor of which
was partly taken up by two sloping passages running
north and west The northern passage was 234
inches long X 55 inches wide. The western was
164 inches long x 50 inches wide x 62 inches high,
the eastern end of which entered a low, roughly-cut
chamber 43 inches high, and shut off from the passage
by a brick wall 24 inches in thickness. Nothing what¬
ever was found in the courtyard and passages of this
tomb with the exception of four pieces of pottery
similar in shape to pi. Hi, no. 1.
Tomb A.S. (10). This tomb was of a simple type,
and was roughly cut in the hard marl. The entrance into
it was from the south by means of a sloping passage
187 inches long x 43 inches wide x 40 inches high.
At the end of this there was a drop of about 1 foot
into the chamber, which had a recess at its end of an
equal height with the roof, namely, 44 inches high.
The chamber only contained four pieces of pottery of
the same shape as pi. lii, no. 10, and a few tubular
and barrel-shaped steatite beads.
51. At the south of this hill another small cemetery
was found of a slightly earlier date, namely, ivth to
vth dynasty. The burials in this were better pre¬
served, the reason being probably due to the fact that
no offerings were placed with the bodies, and there¬
fore the graves were not worth robbing. I have
called this cemetery A.S. South, thus distinguishing
it from the cemetery already described.
Tomb A.S. S. (1) (pi. li). Shaft 36 inches N.-S.
x 37J inches E.-W. x 88 inches deep. The burial of
a woman in a contracted position was found at the
bottom of the shaft, lying on her left side with head
to N. and facing E. Traces of bark-cloth clothing
were seen.
Tomb A.S. S. (8). Shaft 78 inches N.E.-S.W.
X 42 inches S.E.-N.W. x 103 inches deep, containing
a body laid straight on its back with head to N.E. and
facing S.W. A small alabaster jar, greatly corroded,
was found to the right of the head, and a pottery jar
(pi. lii, no. 7) in the middle of the shaft 4 feet below
the surface of the ground.
Tomb A.S. S. (9). The opening into this tomb
was from the east by a short passage partially des¬
troyed. A long courtyard running N.-S. was then
entered 470 inches long x 68 inches wide. On all
four sides of this were arranged a number of shafts,
some being partially in the courtyard. Beginning at
the N.W. corner of the court, shaft (C) contained a
disturbed burial lying in a rough recess 32 inches
N.-S. x 21 inches E.-W. x 16 inches high. This
recess was placed on the west of a shallow pit 32
inches square x 57 inches deep. The recess was pro¬
tected by a brick wall 14 inches thick, the top portion
of which had been removed by plunderers.
Shaft (A). This was 33 inches N.-S. x 28 inches
E.-W. x 37 inches deep. West of this was a small
niche 37^ inches N.-S. x 10 inches E.-W. x 11 inches
high, containing the contracted burial of a man with
head to N. and facing E. The entrance to the shaft
was protected by a small covering or mastaba of brick
coated with mud. This made a mound 18 inches high
above the floor of, and projecting 18 inches into, the
courtyard. South of this shaft was the passage (B)
which was found destroyed.
Shaft (J) measured 48 inches x 50 inches, and was
cleared for 210 inches of its depth until water was
reached, which prevented our getting to the burial
Shaft (H). This was 40 inches N.-S. x 40J inches
E.-W. x 100 inches deep. West of this was placed a
small chamber 60 inches N.-S. x 41J inches E.-W.
x 38 inches high, containing a burial, head to N. and
facing W., lying in a contracted position. Owing to
the bones being badly preserved, though untouched,
it was not found possible to determine the sex.
Shaft (F). The dimensions of the entrance well
were 26 inches N.-S. x 34 inches E.-W. x 28 inches
deep. A small recess was cut at the south of this,
measuring 34 inches N.-S. x 38 inches E.-W. x 28
inches high. This held a body lying with its head to
ABU SHALBYAH TOMBS
39
the W. and facing N., in a very contracted position.
The burial was protected by a brick wall 13 £ inches
thick placed just inside the recess. The bricks were
laid on their edges, and average n‘9 inches x 5 2
inches x 31 inches. Just above the burial was a red
polished dish figured in pi. lii, no. 2.
Shaft (G). The dimensions of this were 35 inches
N.-S. x 21 inches E.-W. x 79 inches deep. At the
E. was a recess containing a burial, the body being
placed in a very contracted position with head to N
and facing E. The remains of a wooden coffin were
also seen, about 42 inches long. The top of the shaft
was closed by a covering of brick, projecting some
two inches into the courtyard.
Shaft (E). This was partially cut in the floor and
side of the courtyard. Its dimensions were 40 inches
N.-S., 31 inches E.-W., and 24 inches deep. No recess
was found, the contracted body of a male being placed
on the floor of the shaft in a square wooden box, with
head to N. and facing E.
Shaft (D). This was 36 inches square and 79
inches deep, cut in the side of the courtyard. All
the contents had been removed, and the tomb was
empty.
These tombs seem to have been a family burial
place, as is fairly common at this period. It is un¬
fortunate that the bones of the burials were not
better preserved ; the ground however was so damp,
despite the fact that it was some considerable dis¬
tance above water level, that the bones in many cases
resembled thick mud in consistency.
Tomb A.S. S. (12). The shaft of this measured
62 inches N.-S. x 68 inches E.-W. x 186 inches deep.
There was a recess on the west of this 94 inches
N.-S. x 44 inches E.-W. x 43 inches high. It held
the body of a man lying straight on his back with
arms straight against his sides. The head was to
the north and faced upwards.
Tomb A.S. S. (14). Shaft 44 inches N.-S.W.,
44$ inches S.E.-N.W. Recess on N.E. of shaft,
measuring 100 inches N.E.-S.W. x 55 inches S.E.-
N.W. x 36 inches high, holding the body of a man (?)
in a badly decayed wooden coffin. The head was at
the N.E., and facing N.W. The body was lying
straight upon its back, and showed signs of having
been disturbed. The fragments of two small pottery
saucers were found amongst the bones.
52. Working north the next hill was named
Korn es Sunt, or The Mound of the Acacia , a
name given to it owing to its proximity to a large
grove of these trees. The cemetery here was a very
small one, and not one burial was found intact.
The dates of all these tombs were of the ivth and
vth dynasties.
Tomb S. (1) pi. li. This grave was found empty,
but is noticeable on account of its curious form. The
length and width at the top were 104J inches N.-S.,
and 44 inches E.-W. The depth down to the ledge,
which ran round the shaft, was 60 inches, and a
further 34 inches brought one to the bottom. The
receptacle for the body measured 92 inches x
34 inches. It is quite possible that the ledge was
provided to hold a cover of wood, or pieces of stone,
in order to protect the burial. The whole grave was
cut in fairly hard rock.
Tomb S. (2) pi. li. This tomb was also curious
on account of its design. It was roughly cut in the
slope of the hill, the entrance shaft measuring
42 inches N.-S. x 76 inches E.-W. x 63 inches deep.
On the west side of this was another smaller shaft,
44 inches N.-S. x 39 inches E.-W. x 104 inches deep.
West of this again was the chamber 52 inches N.-S. x
28 inches E.-W. x 38 inches high. The burial had
either been entirely removed, or no body had been
placed here.
Tomb S. (4) pi. li. The entrance to this was by
means of a short open passage, 34 inches long x 28
inches wide. This led into an open courtyard
182 inches long x 78 inches wide at the east, and
101 inches wide at the west At the end of the
court a covered passage was entered, 72 inches
long x 57 inches wide x 72 inches high, that led to
two shafts provided for burying purposes. The
northern shaft was cut partly in the passage, and
partly in the side of the tomb, measuring 36 inches X
41 inches. The southern shaft was 36 inches square.
We could not reach the bottom of either owing to the
presence of water.
In the N.W. corner of the courtyard there was a
limestone false door 28$ inches high x 20J inches
wide x 3f inches thick. This was inserted in the
western wall of the courtyard, and formerly had
beneath it a stone altar. Fragments of the latter
were found in the middle of the court A photo¬
graph of this tomb showing the false door in position
is shown at bottom of pL xlvL
53. A little north of Kom es Sunt is another hill
known as Kom Amar, the meaning of the name
being uncertain. A fairly large vith-dynasty ceme¬
tery was found here, but plunderers had, with two
exceptions, taken away everything, including the
pottery.
40
THE CEMETERIES OF MAZGHUNEH
Tomb A. (i) (pi. li) was found closed. It was
entered by a sloping passage gradually widening
towards the chamber, and measuring 228 inches
long x 51 inches wide at the mouth, and 71 inches
wide at its northern end. The chamber lay at the
west of the passage, sealed up by means of a brick
wall 26 inches thick. The skull of an ox was found
on the pavement of the passage close to the middle
of the wall. After the bricks had been removed,
there was a drop of 6 inches into the burial chamber,
the dimensions of which were 114 inches N.-S. x 58
inches E.-W. at its northern end. A body was found
in the middle of this with head to the north, but the
bones had been disturbed, and pieces of the wooden
coffin in which they once lay were piled up against
the western wall of the chamber.
It would seem therefore that the body was broken
up before the chamber was finally sealed, as in the
cases of Nefermaat and Atet Two alabaster vessels
shown on pi. 1, nos. 1 and 2 were found just to the
north of the head, and a bronze mirror at the S.E.
corner of the chamber. A quantity of bird bones
were mixed with the human remains. The bricks
that formed the sealing of the chamber averaged
127 x 6 '1 x J'2 inches. The passage and chamber
were roughly cut in the soft marl by means of wooden
chisels (like those found at Deshasheh), one of which
was found at the entrance of the passage.
Tomb A. (2) pi. li. This was a simple type of
tomb, the entrance being a vertical shaft, 104 inches
N.-S. x 41 inches E.-W. x 134 inches deep. West of
the shaft at the bottom was a chamber of the same
length, 45 inches deep x 39 inches high. The body
in this had been broken up, but we recovered a small
alabaster vessel (pi. 1, 3), a broken mirror, and a
quantity of carnelian, steatite, and bronze beads, that
once formed part of a deep collar. The bronze
ends of this collar were also found in the rubbish of
the pit.
54. The next hill was called Kom SHEYKH
Karamyd, from the presence of the tomb of a
saint of that name placed upon its summit The
hill has on its southern side a small cemetery of the
late Ptolemaic period. On the plain at the foot of
the hill at the north there was an extensive cemetery
of the Ptolemaic period superimposed above a ceme¬
tery of the xxiind dynasty. We devoted some little
time to clearing both cemeteries, as we were informed
by the villagers that much valuable stuff had been
taken from the site by plunderers. We found, how¬
ever, that the place had been thoroughly ransacked,
and that nothing remained but a few beads character¬
istic of the xxiind dynasty.
Between Kom Karamyd and the southern Maz-
ghuneh pyramid was a cemetery of the vth-vith
dynasties and Roman intermixed. One tomb of the
latter period was untouched by modem plunderers,
and contained two rough chambers, placed north and
south of the entrance. The northern chamber con¬
tained a large pointed amphora filled with burnt
human bones, together with a smaller vase which was
empty. The amphora had a wide neck, and a moulded
lip with flat vertical handles. Its body was full, with
a hollow base more like a stand than a foot; the
bottom of the base was moulded like the neck. The
material was a buff clay, covered with a heavy white
engobe, resembling pipe clay and very friable. The
jar was decorated in polychrome, as follows: Broad
pink band round neck. On each side of the shoulder
was an eight-pointed star between roughly drawn
three-leaf palmettoes springing from the handles.
From the base of the handles a heavy festoon fell
over the body of the vase on either side, the loose
ends of which hung down under the handles. On
one side of the vase the fillet is blue and black, and
on the opposite side pink and mauve. The base was
decorated with a rough pattern resembling conven¬
tional lotus buds in vertical bands of alternate blue,
pink, and mauve. The dimensions of the jar were
17 inches x 12 inches wide, and it was closed by
means of a rough earthenware saucer just placed over
the top as a lid. The small vase was of grey clay
covered with a buff slip, with decorations on either
side impressed from a mould. The decoration divided
horizontally into three fields—the top field had bands
of ornament consisting of incised circles, vertical
lines, rosettes, ribbon with serrated edges, band of
loops, and another ribbon. The middle field con¬
tained a panel of three figures. On one side was a
Silenus apparently with a basket, or bundle of foliage
on his shoulders. Next to him was a youthful
reveller with left arm and leg raised as though
dancing, and with a small cloak over the shoulders.
On the head was a fold of the cloak or possibly the
lion-skin of Herakles. The right hand is stretched
by the side and holds an uncertain object. The third
figure was that of a draped woman drawing forward
her veil with her right hand, and holding an uncertain
object in her left hand. In the bottom field were
three large, roughly modelled acanthus leaves placed
vertically.
The southern chamber contained the body of a
THE SOUTH PYRAMID OF MAZGHUNEH
41
child, and the following articles were recovered from
it which are shown photographed at the top of
pi xlvi. These comprise—3 pieces of pottery, 2
pottery lamps, 3 alabaster kohl pots, 2 alabaster
dishes, 1 pair of pottery model shoes, 2 pairs of
wooden clappers (?), and a quantity of yellow and
black glazed beads. The long kohl pot was beauti¬
fully made, the neck as thin as paper being cemented
into the body of the vessel. The pair of shoes were
very curious, and were made of brown pottery painted
white, with red soles. The leather fastenings of these
were shown in black lines. The wooden clappers (?)
are very well known, but it is difficult to decide what
was their use. Only one pair is shown in the plate,
as the other two of precisely similar form were much
decayed. The date of the group is early Roman.
CHAPTER XIII
THE SOUTH PYRAMID OF MAZGHUNEH
By ERNEST MACK A Y
S 5. The site of this pyramid was first discovered
by my observing that a considerable tract of ground
was strewn with a thin coating of limestone chips,
about three miles south of the southern stone pyramid
of Dahshur. This contained what was obviously a
large pit filled up with wind-blown sand, the axis of
which lay from north to south. Suspecting that I
had here a tomb of unusual importance, I attacked
the place by a series of narrow trenches, leading
inward from far outside the south and west of the
stone-strewn site to the pit in its centre.
Early in the course of this work a wavy wall of
brick was found, which we were able to trace without
difficulty, eventually unearthing the greater part of
the four sides of an enclosure wall 41 £ inches in
thickness, and standing, in places, over 60 inches
high. After further work we found that this wavy
wall formerly surrounded a small brick pyramid,
cased with limestone, which I shall proceed to deal
with first
56. The Pyramid. The base of the pyramid was
laid out by cutting a trench (pi. xxxix A) in the hard
sandy soil 202 inches wide and 39 inches deep. This
trench enclosed a practically square piece of desert,
in the middle of which lay the tomb pit
The two opposite sides of this trench were lined
with a coating of one thickness of brick, set at a slight
batter, the face of which was plastered with mud and
then whitewashed (pi. xlii). This batter was pro¬
duced by setting each course slightly behind the one
beneath it. Owing to the friable nature of the sides
of the cutting, such a coating of brick was necessary,
in order to preserve a clean outline for the work.
At the bottom of the trench we found various
large foundation blocks of limestone in situ, two of
which partially occupied the N.E. and N.W. corners
of the trench. One of these may be seen in the
foreground of pi. xlii. All these blocks were bedded
on a thin coating of clean sand, and bear traces of
attempts to break them up by means of deep grooves
cut in their sides. Three of the corners of the trench
were found to be in excellent preservation, viz. the
N.E., N.W., and S.W.' The S.E. corner we were not
able to trace, as its outline has been quite destroyed,
and lies under a thick coating of limestone chips.
I was thus able to measure the northern and western
sides of the trench, which are 182 feet, 8 inches, and
181 feet 9 inches respectively, the difference being a
practically negligible quantity of r 1 inches. Taking
the average, therefore, of these two measurements,
and allowing a little for the footing of the pyramid,
it is possible that 100 cubits was the original base
of the pyramid, with a paving about three cubits wide
around it.
The square tract of ground enclosed by the
trench was covered in many places by one to two
courses of mud bricks, laid upon their sides in loose
gravel. This was all that was left of the filling of the
pyramid, with the exception of a small mass of brick
lying on some masonry in the northern part of the
tomb pit (pi. xlii), and also some brickwork at the
south of the pit. These bricks averaged l8'3 inches
long, 9*2 inches wide, and ST inches deep, and were
all made with straw. No mortar or mud was em¬
ployed between each course of brickwork, but
occasionally coarse sand was used as a packing.
Of the outer stone casing of the pyramid not
a fragment was left, and I was therefore not able
to ascertain its angle or its height.
We have therefore, on this site, the remains of
a hitherto quite unknown pyramid, built of sun-
dried brick, cased with limestone, and dated to the
xiith dynasty, as I shall show later.
57. The large pit in the centre of the pyramid
base was now attacked, and entirely cleared in the
course of about three weeks’ work. Owing to the
character of the pit filling, we had to convey our
stuff to a considerable distance on the eastern and
western sides in order to prevent the loose sand
6
42
THE SOUTH PYRAMID OF MA2GHUNEH
from either falling in or being blown back by the
strong winds that prevailed at this time.
The upper portion of the pit was cut through a bed
of hard fine sand about 55 inches deep. Immediately
below this there was a stratum mainly consisting of
small flint pebbles tightly packed together in con¬
creted sand. This stratum lay on a soft clayey rock,
in which were built the sarcophagus and chambers of
the tomb.
The builders, when excavating the pit, effectually
disposed of the upper and softer debris, but the
hardest and lowest stratum was thrown out to the
south and west of the pit, just outside a trench cut
for the wavy wall.
Prior to the excavation of the pit we had no
clue as to the whereabouts of the entrance passage
of the tomb, and the northern portion of the
cutting was first cleared in the hope of finding this.
After reaching a depth of about 108 inches, large
roofing blocks of limestone were met with, and
eventually a series of partially destroyed chambers
was cleared, which showed us that the entrance into
them did not lie on this side of the pyramid.
As the loose sand gave us so much trouble, I
decided to clear the whole of the pit at once, instead
of in sections, and we eventually came upon a
wrecked entrance passage at the south of the
cutting.
58. The Entrance Passage. This passage
was 225 inches long, 35^ inches wide, and descended
north at an angle of 22 0 30'. It was fitted nearly the
whole of its way with shallow steps 4 2 inches deep,
and 14 6 inches wide. A smooth piece of paving was
left on both sides of the steps, 10 inches at the west,
and 10 9 inches on the east (pi. xxxix B). The steps
were cut in the paving, and not built in.
The western side of the passage, for 76 inches
from the south, was found to be entirely destroyed ;
but after this, one course of walling remained standing,
23$ inches high. The eastern side was demolished
for nearly its entire length, and only the marks on
the paving of where it once stood gave me the proper
width of the entrance. The portion of the passage
provided with steps was 192 inches long ; at the end
of these there was a slight drop of 5 inches, and
the way continued level with a plain paving for
33 inches further. A small chamber was then entered
(pi. xxxix (C)), 55 inches long N. toS. and 45 inches
wide E. to W., forming part of a portcullis chamber,
the upper portion of which was entirely missing.
The portcullis of red granite (section II, pi. xxxix)
(D) was quite intact, and was found lying across the
chamber, E. to W., partially closed. There was a
space of 14 inches for the portcullis to traverse before
it would have been quite home. The two ends of the
block were resting on a limestone bed (pi. xxxix (E))
that inclined from east to west. Its northern edge
lay on a portion of a granite slab, the southern top
edge of which was cut away at an angle 4 0 15' to
agree with the slope of the limestone bed of the
portcullis, and thus form a slide (pi. xxxix (F)).
The dimensions of the plug block were 103 J inches
long, 58J inches wide, and 57 inches deep. All four
sides, as well as the top, were carefully hammer-
dressed, but exceptional care was taken with the
under side of the stone, the surface being very
smoothly worked.
The granite slab (pi. xxxix (E)) was 100 inches
long, and 29 inches in thickness. On its southern
side the groove, or step, on which the plug block
rested was 5 inches wide. This acted as a support
for the portcullis until it had cleared the space
occupied by the passage running through the
chamber. The portcullis block was just of sufficient
length to permit of its western end resting on the
bed prepared for it, before there was any tendency
for the block to cant into the passage or run
askew.
The passage of the tomb then continued due
north by mounting the granite slide and entering
another passage at a higher level. It would, of
course, have been quite impossible to have done this
in the ordinary way without cutting through the
plug block. Owing however to the wrecked condition
of the upper part of the chamber, we were able to
surmount the stone which was lying open to the sky,
and trace the continuation of the passage north
without difficulty.
The method thus employed in closing the entrance
of this tomb shows much ingenuity, for any serious
attempt to cut away the sides of the plug chamber in
order to force a passage would result in the port¬
cullis block falling on the breaker-in. Also any
attempt to break up the slide (F) would be rendered
very difficult owing to the hardness of the stone
employed. The limestone bed on which the eastern
end of the portcullis rested was provided with a wide
and shallow groove running down its axis in order
to minimise friction when moving the block. This
groove was but irregularly made, and had been cut
after the bed was built.
It is difficult to understand how the portcullis
ENTRANCE PASSAGE
43
was moved, as there was no room in its chamber for
anybody to get behind it, or at its sides. The only
method that seems to be possible was to insert levers
beneath the stone at the front, and thus gradually
jerk the block into place.
59. The sides of the second passage north of the
portcullis chamber were but one course high, the roof¬
ing and upper courses having been removed (pi. xxxix
(G)). The angle of descent for 110 inches of its dis¬
tance was 18°. This portion was fitted with 8 steps cut
in the middle of the passage, 15 j inches wide, and
averaging 4 4 inches in depth. On both sides of the
steps, that is at the east and west, there was a plain
slope, 106 inches in width. The remaining portion of
the passage after a drop of 5 inches was straight, 33
inches long and 35 £ inches wide. This entered a second
portcullis chamber 55 inches long x 45 inches wide,
the granite plug block of which was open (section III,
pi. xxxix (H) (J)). The dimensions of this portcullis
are 104} inches long, 62J inches wide, and 57 inches
deep, being practically of the same size as that belong¬
ing to the southern portcullis chamber. There was
very little difference between the two compartments,
except that the northern portcullis chamber was
placed on the west of the passage, whereas the
southern one lies at the east. The sides of the cham¬
ber stand 30! inches, or one course high, all stone¬
work above this point having been removed. The
thickness of the stonework employed in the eastern
and western side walls is 49 inches.
The granite slide block (pi. xxxix (K)) at the
north of the chamber measures 95 inches long, 28J
inches thick, and stands 30J inches high from the
pavement. The base of this block is set considerably
below the level of the pavement. The inclination of
the step in the slide is from west to east, the angle
of descent being 6° 15'. The width of the step is
7$ inches, being much wider than that at the south.
The portcullis block and the remains of its chamber
are shown photographed in pi. xliii.
60. Long Eastern Passage. The continuation
of the passage north of the plug-chamber was found
entirely wrecked, even the paving blocks being
removed in places. There were slight indications,
however, that it was short and that it entered a
chamber now entirely destroyed, which is shown in
broken lines at pis. xxxix, xl (L).
At the east of this chamber there was a drop of
40"9 inches into a large passage running north
(sect. IV, pis. xxxix, xl (M)). This passage at its
eastern end had its side walls complete with the
exception of one course of stone. The entrance into
it was facilitated by two steps, one measuring
167 inches x 137 inches x 4 0 inches deep was cut
in the paving of the wrecked chamber (L). The
other step, approached endways, consisted of a long
block of stone placed against the southern wall of
the passage, exactly fitting its width and measuring
8 0 inches wide, and 19*8 inches deep. There was a
narrow bench or shelf on the southern and eastern
sides of the passage at this point, the side walls being
set back for the purpose. These were the same
height, viz. 40-9 inches, as the pavement of the
destroyed chamber (L). The width of this bench was
8 7 inches to 9 0 inches on the east, and 6 0 inches
to 6 3 inches on the south.
61. The passage was 405 inches in length and
42 6 inches wide, and complete with its roofing blocks
with the exception of its extreme ends. The roofing
blocks numbered six in all, the joints being very
closely fitted. These were not all at the same level
on the under side, for there was an unusual feature
in the roof: a recess, a heightening of the passage,
162 6 inches long in the middle. The height of this
recess was 5'4 inches at the north, and 7^4 inches
at the south, the width being the same as that of
the passage.
Continuing along the passage, a flight of steps
was met with at the north that led up to a long
chamber running due west (sect. V, pi. xl (N).
The height of the pavement of this chamber from
the pavement of the passage was 35 inches. East
of the steps at this point was a shelf 68’8 inches high
above the paving, and 97 inches wide. The total
height of the passage here was 113 inches, all the
side walls being intact, the roofing blocks alone
having been removed. The steps were three in
number, the depths as one ascends being 7$, 9$,
and 10 inches. These were constructed after the
passage was finished. The second step had a joint
in it, that was formerly keyed by dovetailing the
stones on each side of the joint, and then inserting
a piece of wood as a dovetail feather (pi. xliv).
The measurements of the long eastern passage
are :
Width, north, 43*1 inches top, 42^6 inches base.
„ middle, 42 6 „ „ 42-6 „ „
„ south, 42-2 „ ,, 422 ,, ,,
Height, north, 59^9 inches east, 601 inches west
11 middle, 64 2 „ ,, 64 3 »
„ south, 560 „ „ 5S7 »
»
44
THE SOUTH PYRAMID OF MAZGHUNEH
The great increase of height in the middle is of
course due to the recessing of the roof.
The walls of the passage are of three courses of
stone, that measure :
East wall: base course 20*9 inches, middle 25 2
inches, top I9’i inches.
West wall: base course 20 9 inches, middle 22 0
inches, top 22^3 inches.
The sizes of the stones used in the courses are
653 inches long x 22 inches wide, 73^4 x 22, 64*4
x 20'9, 74'8 x 25% 651 x igri, 77-8 x 19T, 78-4 x
I9’i, 627 x i9’i, 68‘2 x 25‘2.
The floor of the passage was but roughly dressed,
the stones run in under the side walls. On the whole,
the workmanship of the passage was fairly good,
the walls and roofing blocks being smooth, and the
jpints of the stones closely set. Though so much
was wanting when the test of the measuring rod was
applied, yet to the casual eye the impression was
good.
62. First False Passage (sect VI, pi. xl (O).
On the western side of the passage 157J inches from
its northern end there was a well in the pave¬
ment projecting into the corridor for 22 inches.
On investigation this proved to be part of a short
passage running west, the end of which was blocked
by a quartzite slab. This we first thought to be the
side of a concealed sarcophagus, but it afterwards
proved to be a separate block of stone, 35 inches
long, 13! inches wide, and 37J inches deep. The
dimensions of the passage were 135J inches long,
29 inches wide, and 36 inches high.
The base of the quartzite slab was not resting
on the same level as the floor of the passage, for a
recess was cut in the paving 14 inches long and
4-3 inches deep, east of the end of the passage, to
take it The well, by which this false passage is
entered, was formerly closed by a thin slab of stone
cemented into ledges cut into the pavement to
receive it (pi. xliv). The recesses were very irregu¬
larly cut and are 1} inches deep. The side walls
of the passage are of two courses of stone, the blocks
of which could not be measured owing to their being
thickly incrusted with lime. The roofing blocks
are two in number. The finish of the masonry
was also very good here, the final touches being done
with a pointed chisel, the marks of which all lie at
an angle showing that an edge was not employed.
The pavement of the passage was of rough work¬
manship and composed of large blocks of stone, upon
which the side walls rested. The eastern or well end
of the pavement was one stone with the bottom por¬
tion of the three sides of the well. The surface of
this stone was dressed with a chisel 7 inch in
width.
The complete dimensions of the passage are:
Width, entrance, 287
„ middle, 28'5
„ west, 27'8
Height, entrance, 360
„ middle, 363
„ west, 362
inches
»
II
*»
top, 28-3
„ 29x3
». 277
north, 358
364
» 360
inches base.
M >1
»» n
„ south.
t> >*
» M
63. Great Northern Chamber. This chamber was
complete with the exception of three of its roofing
blocks, portions of which remain on its northern side
wall (sects. V and VI, pi. xl (N)). The dimensions
of the chamber were 354J inches long, 84 inches wide,
and 64'8 inches high. Bisecting it in the middle was
a passage that will be dealt with under a separate
heading. The roofing blocks, when all of them were
in place, numbered nine in all, and measure 176
inches long, 19J inches to 47J inches wide, and 66
inches high. The side walls of the chamber were
very carefully finished, the joints of the stones being
under £5 inch in thickness. The dressing was com¬
pleted with the aid of a pointed tool, the strokes
always running from left to right This left a groove
in the surface of the stone 'I inch wide, and averaging
'9 inch deep. After the walls had been finally
finished a thin coating of plaster was applied to the
stone.
There were indications that the chamber had been
filled with small blocks of loose masonry, for many of
these were found in the course of clearing. These
were regularly shaped, and were far too small to have
been abstracted from any part of the tomb.
A drawing in charcoal was seen on the southern
side wall of the chamber at its eastern end. This
was about 7 inches below the roof and apparently
represents a royal personage lying on a bier. The
drawing is of later date than the tomb, for some of
the plaster had fallen from the wall when it was done,
and the lines cover both stone and plaster (pi. xliv).
The thickness of the stonework comprising the
northern and southern side walls of the apartment
was 50J inches and 41^ inches respectively. The
sizes of the stones used in the construction of the
chamber are: 83'! inches long x 441 inches wide,
82-4 inches x 54-6 inches, 56 - 4 inches x 22‘5 inches,
47-4 inches x 22-5 inches, 63-5 inches x 270 inches,
36 5 inches x 54^9 inches, 64^2 inches x 34'! inches.
PASSAGES
45
The full dimensions of the chamber are :
Length : north, 354*3 inches ; south, 3560 inches.
Width : east, 84 8 inches ; west, 83-0 inches. Height:
N.E. comer, 6 yg inches ; N.W. corner, 64 8 inches ;
S.E. corner, 65 2 inches ; S.W. corner, 65*5 inches.
Width of roofing blocks from the west, 46 inches,
47J inches, 41 inches, 46$ inches (?), 38^ inches (?),
29 inches, 45 inches, 19^ inches, 411 inches (?).
64. Second False Passage (sect VI, pi. xl (P)).
This passage was built in the middle of the great
northern chamber, the entry into, and out of, it being
effected by three steps at the north. Two of these
were cut in the paving of the apartment on both sides
of the passage, and average 12 6 inches x 13 4 inches
x 5-2 inches deep. Below these there was a step
resting on the pavement of the passage measuring
417 inches long, I2‘9 inches wide, and 1 19 inches
deep (pi. xliv). The measurements of the passage
were 823 inches long X 417 inches wide. Its depth
was 33 6 inches below the pavement of the chamber
in which it lay. The southern end of the passage
was stopped by a large quartzite block that lay across
its end. This block was 102 inches wide at the base,
and was 5 inches lower than the pavement of the
passage. The height of the stone was 50 inches
above the pavement, both sides sloping towards its
top, which was 62 inches wide. The meaning of this
block will be dealt with later under another heading.
65. Third False Passage (sect VI,pl.xl(Q and
R)). In the south-west corner of the great northern
chamber there was a well in the paving 34 inches
N. to S. x 33J inches E. to W., and 36 inches deep.
This formed part of a passage 33J inches wide that
ran south for 144 inches. At the southern end of
this there was another well 37J inches deep entering
a passage that turned at right angles to the east
This further passage was 124 inches long, 30^ inches
wide, and 37J inches high, and was stopped at its
eastern end by a quartzite block similar to that pre¬
sent in the first false passage (R). Also for 13 3 inches
before the block was reached there was a drop in
the pavement 6 7 inches deep. The quartzite block
measures 35 inches long, 13J inches wide, and 41J
inches high.
The roofing of passage (Q) was of three blocks of
stone, the under surface roughly hammer-dressed and
small excrescences taken off by means of a pointed
tool. The pavement blocks were not well dressed,
only the hammer being employed for smoothing the
stones. The side walls of the passage, two courses in
height on the western, and one + two courses on
the eastern side, were built of comparatively small
stones. That could not be measured, however, owing
to a coating of lime that covered them. The roofing
of passage (R) was also of two blocks of stone, the
number of courses in the side walls being two.
The dimensions of the two passages are as follows :
Length (Q) on eastern side, including wall, 143 ‘6 inches.
1437 „
316 inches base.
32 o » >i
316
43' 2
43’4
435
west.
„ „ „ western „ „
Breadth, north, 33^2 inches top,
„ middle, 33 8 „
„ south, 337 „
Height, north, 43^0 „ east,
„ middle, 434 „ „
„ south, 427 „ „
Length (R) on northern side, 92 5 inches.
„ „ „ southern „ 92-6 „
Breadth, east, 30 7 inches top, 30 6 inches base.
„ middle, 30 8 „ ,, 3® 7 » »>
,, west, 30 * i» 11 3 1 5 11 11
Height, east, 37*1 „ north, 36^3 „ south.
„ middle, 37 6 „ „ 374
„ west, 376 „ „ 376
»»
»> »
» ’>
In the northern portion of passage (Q) there was
found a large alabaster jar in fragments, together with
three limestone vessels. The jar was 18 inches long,
and inches at its widest part. The width at the
brim was 4^ inches. It had been purposely cut
vertically in half together with its lid, for what object
it is not easy to discover. It is possible that the
vessel was intended to hold a heavy viscous matter
which could not be poured into the jar when whole.
If this be the case, each side of the jar must have been
filled separately and the two pieces clapped together
and secured with thongs. Similar vessels are well
known in the xiith dynasty, and take the form of
a trussed duck. In the vase before us the limbs of
the duck are just distinguishable in a shallow ridge
running down each side of the jar. A flaw in the
alabaster when working the jar was remedied by
cutting a circular hole in the stone and then inserting
a small piece to fit (pi. xliii). The limestone vessels
shown in two positions on pi. xlvi are difficult to
understand, for they could hardly have been used for
offering vessels. Prof. Petrie suggests that they
might have been employed as lamps. The middle
well of the vessels would hold the oil and the floating
wick, while the outer portion would be filled with
water in order that the liquid might saturate the
stone and thus prevent the oil from soaking away.
One of the jars has, on the side of its well, a black
46
THE SOUTH PYRAMID OF MAZGHUNEH
mark that might well have been produced by a flame.
Corroboration of this view is given by the photograph
below them (on pi. xlvi) showing the upper portions
of a series of fire altars, the tops of which agree very
closely with the three vessels found in this tomb.
66. The Sarcophagus Chamber (sects. VI
and VII, pis. xl, xli). This was situated south of
the great northern chamber, a thickness of 41$ inches
of stone walling separating the two. Its condition
when found was very ruinous, for all of the roofing
blocks, as well as its southern end, had been entirely
removed. The northern end of the apartment was
quite intact, and forms part of the southern wall of
the great northern chamber.
The length of the chamber, if we are to take the
supposed wall (pi. xl) to be correct, is 161 inches long
N. to S. and 113J inches wide E. to W. The roofing
took the form of a pent-roof, the marks of this being
clearly distinguishable on the stonework of the nor¬
thern end wall. These marks are shown on the plan
in thickened lines, and some may be seen in the
photographs of this end of the chamber (pis. xl, xliii).
The height of this pent-roof above the sarcophagus
must have been, when intact, 163J inches.
The sides of the chamber only rose 42 £ inches
above the top of the sepulchre, there being nothing
in the nature of a pavement except the top of the
sarcophagus and two slabs of quartzite that are
placed east and west of it. These two slabs are the
two blocks that bar the western and eastern ends of
the first and third false passages.
The sarcophagus was hewn out of a single block
of red quartzite, 84 inches wide, and was placed
squarely in the axis of the chamber. The total
length and depth could not be ascertained owing to
the masonry surrounding it. I have therefore repre¬
sented on my plan (pi. xli) that the width from the
inner to the outer face of the sarcophagus at the north
and south is the same as that on the east and west,
namely, 18 inches.
The inside measurement of the sarcophagus at
the top is 131J inches long x 45^ inches wide.
Seventeen inches below this the sarcophagus nar¬
rows, a place being cut at its northern end to receive
a coffin. This receptacle measures 94£ inches long,
35J inches wide, and 41^ inches deep. At the
south of the sarcophagus there was a square hole
28^ x 28J x 28J inches provided to take a set of
canopic jars (pi. xli). The accuracy and finish of
the burial place were very poor in comparison with
the fine work of the Hawara pyramid, the errors in
cutting amounting in some instances to more than
half an inch. The surface in every part was but
roughly ground down, the corners being rounded off.
The sarcophagus was intended to have been
covered with two roofing blocks of rough quartzite.
One of these was properly in position on the southern
end, but the northern block was not in place, and
partially rested on the edge of the sepulchre. The
northern roofing block is the stone that bars the
southern end of the second false passage, and is
79 inches long from N. to S. It projects into the great
northern chamber for two inches, and extends nine
inches beyond the north end of the sarcophagus. The
southern side wall of the great northern chamber (N)
thus improperly included this block in its masonry
(pi. xli). The height of the cover-slab above the
pavement of passage (P) at the north was 50 inches,
and at the south from the top of the sarcophagus
37^ inches. The upper portion of the stone thus
slanted down towards the south. The southern
cover-slab was 88 inches long E.-W., and 83 inches
wide N.-S. It was united to the sarcophagus by
rough mortar, the northern block being uncemented.
The lower portion was hollowed out, perhaps in order
to provide extra space over the well for the canopic
jars. The width of this hollow is the same as that of
the upper part of the sarcophagus, the height being
17 inches. The stone here was very roughly
dressed, and big flaws now appear that were for¬
merly concealed by plaster. The form of this
sarcophagus and its lids is exactly like that of the
same period found by Mr. Weigall at Abydos (Abydos
III, pi. xxxviii).
The sarcophagus when unearthed was found filled
with rough mud mixed with sand, the result of
some of the pyramid bricks being washed in by
storms. Nothing was found inside except a fragment
of a small alabaster kohl pot, and a piece of glazed
steatite inlay, half an inch square. It is regrettable
that no bones were found, as they might have assisted
us as to the sex of the person for whom the tomb was
built.
The dimensions of the sarcophagus are :
Receptacle for coffin: east, 94^9 top, 95 6 bottom.
„ >, west, 94-5 „ 957
a a a north, 3S6„ 35 7 »
„ „ » south, 35-6 „ 364
Depth of N.E. corner 41’O inches, N.W. 4f2,
S.E. 417, S.W. 417.
Receptacle for canopic jars, N. 28 - 6, S. 287, E.
28 3, W. 28-3.
SURROUNDINGS
47
Depth of N.E. corner 28 - o ins., N.W. corner 28-5.
„ „ S.E. „ 28-2 „ S.W. „ 27-6.
Depth from top of sarcophagus to top of recep¬
tacle for coffin, N.E. corner 174 inches, N.W. lyo
inches, S.E. 174 inches, S.W. 16 9 inches.
67. The Wavy Wall (pis. xxxix, xliv). This wall
was discovered in the earliest part of our work on
the pyramid site, the south-west corner being un¬
covered first, and found to be standing about 36
inches high. From this point the wall was traced
along its southern side, and the south-east corner
unearthed. Here the corner was found to be almost
entirely denuded away, and we were only able to
trace its outline by a slight coating of mud upon the
gravel. From here the eastern side of the wall was
in a much better condition, portions of it standing
over 48 inches high. The north-east corner was then
easily reached, and was seen to be in no better
condition than the south-east, but nevertheless easily
traced. The northern side of the wall was then found
for about half its total distance, the rest having
entirely disappeared. On the west but little of the
wall remained, a small portion at the S.W. being all
that was left.
The width of the enclosure wall was uniform
throughout, being 41$ inches thick. Such wavy walls
are only known at present in the xith and xiith dynas¬
ties, a notable example being a wall across the
temenos of the tomb of Senusert III at Abydos
(Abydos III).
Two sizes of bricks were used in the Mazghuneh
wall, averaging 12 0 inches x 6 2 inches X 37 inches
and 127 inches x 67 inches x 4’2 inches. They
were made without the use of straw, of good firm mud
mixed with coarse sand. The majority of the bricks
were laid on their sides in regular courses of stretchers,
but in some parts of the northern wall the bricks
were laid on their edges, headers being in no case
employed.
It was possible to measure the angles of three of
the corners; the sum shows the N.W. corner. These
are N.E. 92 0 42', N.W. 88° 48', S.E. 87° 23', S.W.
91 0 5'. The wall was beautifully built, each side
being very even and the bays regular. The average
distance from head to head was 146 inches, and the
depths of the bays 41 inches.
Both faces of the wall had a thin plastering of mud,
upon which was laid a coat of white stucco. The
dimensions of the sides are: N. 3060 inches, S. 3008
inches, E. 3016 inches, W. 3017 inches (?).
A curious feature was a trench 86 inches wide and
24 inches deep that was cut to receive the founda¬
tions of the southern portion of the wall. Though I
searched for similar trenches on the other three sides,
none could be found. Apparently the trench was
cut through a piece of high ground at the south in
order to obtain a uniform level for the wall.
At the eastern end of the southern wall 740 inches
from the S.E. corner a flat piece of walling was found
288 inches long, and 24 inches thick, each end of
which was connected with the wavy wall. After both
sides of this had been cleaned, an entrance 146 inches
wide in this flat wall was discovered blocked up with
brickwork (pi. xxxix (T)). When the bricks had
been removed from the doorway, a chamber 296
inches long N.-S. and 270 inches wide E.-W. was
entered, with another doorway at its northern end.
The second doorway was 156 inches wide, and led
into the pyramid enclosure.
The thickness of the side walls of this chamber
was 24 inches. The western wall stood about three feet
high, its bottom courses being perfect throughout its
entire length. The eastern wall did not stand so
high, and its southern portion was missing. On the
east of the chamber were the remains of a second
one that measured 104 inches wide. The length
could not be determined owing to its southern end
being demolished. The entrance into this second
chamber (pi. xxxix (V)) must have been from the
first one, but no trace of it could be found. The
thickness of the north wall of the first chamber was
37$ inches and it stood about 48 inches high. Its
two faces as well as the sides of its jambs were
plastered and whitened, as was the case with the
inside faces of the two chambers.
It is evident that the true entrance into the
pyramid enclosure was by means of the entrance (T)
and the doorway (U) beyond. When the pyramid
was abandoned the entrances were then blocked up
with brick, or it is possible that this might have been
done in a later period when the pyramid was being
destroyed in order to prevent unauthorized people
taking away stone or brick.
Two sizes of bricks were used in the construction
of the chambers. These are 121 inches long x 6'2
inches wide x 4^3 inches deep, 11*5 x 5 8 x 3-5. It
will be noticed that none of these sizes agree very
closely with those In the wavy wall.
The whole of the ground round about this spot
was covered with a thick layer of limestone chips
suggesting that it was from here that the pyramid
casing was brought out for transport. Just outside
48
THE SOUTH PYRAMID OF MAZGHUNEH
the wavy wall we succeeded in recovering four pieces
of limestone, with Middle Kingdom inscriptions upon
them. All these have been examined by Mr. Alan
Gardiner, who reports that they are very illegible
owing to weathering.
The following are his translations:
(1) (Facsimile, pi. xlv). “ Year 2, third month of
summer (Epiphi), day 2. Brought by Onkhu-.”
(2) “ Year 3-brought by Onkhu.”
(3) (Facsimile, pi. xlv). “Year 3, fourth month
of summer (Mesore), day 7. Brought by Onkhu-.”
(4) “ Year-third month of summer, day 26.
Brought by Sonb-.”
These dates correspond with September and
October in the Thoth year, or a month earlier if the
Mesore year was used.
68. The Pyramid Chapel (pis. xxxix, xli, xlv).
In the eastern portion of the wavy wall lies the
chapel of the pyramid, built of sun-dried brick. Only
the lower part of this remains, but what is left is in
fairly good condition.
The southern wall of the chapel is 1209 inches
from the S.E. corner, and the distance of the N.E.
corner from the northern wall 1191 inches. The
chapel is therefore not exactly central, but 18 inches
nearer to the N.E. corner.
The design consists of a large central chamber,
entered from the east. North and south of this
are four additional apartments. The two at the
south communicate with the central chamber, and
the remaining two are entered from the north. At
the south-western corner of the central room is
another apartment that was formerly roofed with a
vaulting of brick. A portion of this was still in
position when found, but collapsed before it could
be photographed or measured. The thickness of the
walls of the chapel was 28 inches, the northern and
southern ends of the wavy wall being built against
the two ends of the chapel. There was no sign of
bonding between them, and it might therefore be that
the chapel was finished before the ends of the wall
were completed.
The pavement of chamber (W) was 38 inches lower
than the bottom of the wavy wall. The measure¬
ments of the bricks used in the building are of four
sizes, averaging 119 inches long x 6 - 0 inches wide x
3-9 inches deep, 12 4 x 6 3 x 4 3, 13 5 x 6 0 x 4 5,
149 x 8*o x 37. These were made of mud mixed
with a little sand, no straw being employed.
We will now proceed with the chapel in detail.
The central apartment (W) was 332J inches long
N.-S., and 245 inches wide E.-W., the squareness
of the walls being everything that could be desired.
The paving was formed by one layer of brick placed
on the gebel, which was then plastered with mud.
The sides of the chamber vary greatly in height, the
western portion being 108 inches, and the eastern,
which was greatly denuded, 12 inches.
The entrance into the smaller apartment (X) on
the western side was 34J inches wide, the jambs
of its doorway being fitted with ledges, 8 inches in
depth on their northern and southern faces. These
ledges are 26 inches from the pavement. The
dimensions of the apartment are 157J inches long
E.-W., and 65^ inches wide N.-S. The spring of
the barrel vaulting of brick was 32 inches from the
pavement. The bricks, of which the former was
constructed, were made with straw, and were of a
larger size than the bricks used in the rest of the
structure. The position of this apartment is curious,
for one would expect either that it would be centrally
situated in the western wall, or that there would be
another one to correspond with it at the north. It
doubtless was provided to receive the statue of the
person for whom the pyramid was built. A strange
feature was a rectangular brick barrier placed just in
front of the entrance. This was nearly three courses
in thickness and formed of a row of single bricks
placed lengthways and lying on their sides. A por¬
tion of this barrier can be seen in the lower photo¬
graph on pi. xlv. The pavement of the apartment
was practically destroyed, only a slight trace of it
showing on its walls. The level was the same as
that of chamber W.
The southern apartment (Y) was 245 inches long
E.-W. and 86 inches wide N.-S. It was intended to
be a single chamber, but subsequently was divided in
the middle by a narrow brick wall 12 inches in thick¬
ness. The western wall of this chamber was also the
best preserved, 11 courses of brick remaining, mostly
laid on their sides and covered with a thick coating of
whitened mud. The entrance to the apartment was
found closed by a brick filling; the sizes of the bricks
employed for this were of the same as those of the
chambers. The two bottom courses of the western
half of the room were laid on their edges forming a
row of headers, the ground being lower at this point
The western half of the chamber was of the same
level as chamber (W), but the eastern portion was
6 inches lower.
The two northern chambers (Z) deserve but little
attention. That on the west was mj inches long
HISTORY
49
E.-W., and 83 inches wide N.-S. The entrance to
this was from the eastern apartment by a doorway
41 £ inches wide. The pavement of this was also one
thickness of brick and stood at the same level as
chamber (W). The eastern room was 6 inches lower
and measures 105^ inches long E.-W. x 83 inches
wide N.-S. The width of the doorway at the north
was 38 inches.
69. Later History. The space enclosed by the
wavy wall was subsequently occupied by a very small
xviiith-dynasty cemetery of the date of Thothmes III.
Every grave but one was found to have been robbed
soon after burial, for only the head and upper portions
of the bodies were disturbed, showing that the plun¬
derers knew the profitable end of the grave in their
search for valuables. Everything was taken by the
thieves except pottery (pi. lii), scarabs (pi. 1), and
those kohl pots (pi. 1) that were too much broken to
be of value. Scarabs however were left behind for
the reason perhaps that they would be too easily
identified to be used again. The favourite places
for the graves were either just inside, or outside the
wavy wall, or they were dug at the bottom of the
trench that was cut to take the bottom courses of
the pyramid casing.
Two burials were found at the southern end of
the tomb cutting and a few graves occur just round
its edge. These prove that the core of the pyramid
as well as its casing stones had been destroyed to the
ground before the time of Thothmes 111 .
The one grave that was left untouched, as men¬
tioned above, was found just inside the brick wall at
the south-west corner. It contained the body of a
middle-aged man placed in a roughly-made wooden
coffin. No articles or pottery were found with the
burial except a small wooden box standing at the
head and containing a set of twelve draughtsmen.
Two limestone stools, one unfinished, were found
amongst the chips that encumbered the eastern side
of the base of this pyramid. These are shown with
the draughtsmen on pi. xlifi.
70. Date. We now come to the question, For
whom was the southern pyramid of Mazghuneh
built? The reply must be either Amenemhat IV, or
his sister and successor Queen Sebek-neferu, whose
death ended the xiith dynasty. The former king
followed his father Amenemhat III, whose pyramid
tomb at Hawara was entered and identified by Prof.
Petrie in the year 1889. That tomb agrees in many
important respects with the tomb I have just de¬
scribed, but is, from its conception and fine work, the
earlier; and the southern Mazghuneh pyramid was
merely a copy of it.
The chief points in common between the two
pyramids are as follows :
1st. The stairways and the entrance on south.
2nd. The method of stopping the entrance pas¬
sages by means of sliding plug blocks, of which the
Hawara pyramid possesses three.
3rd. The presence of a long apartment at the
north of the sarcophagus chamber, containing a
central false passage, barred at its southern end by
one of the roofing blocks of the sarcophagus.
4th. The existence of two false passages at a
lower level on the east and west, the ends of which
are blocked by the sides of the sarcophagus.
The only real difference between the plug
chambers of the Hawara and Mazghuneh pyramids
is that the plug blocks of the former were strictly
horizontal, whereas those in the latter were set at an
angle. Apart from this they agree in design though
not in measurement The difficulty of moving these
blocks is shown by the fact that only the first block
from the entrance passage in each pyramid had been
closed.
The plug chambers of the Mazghuneh pyramid
are certainly improved copies of those at Hawara,
and therefore later. The angle at which the plugs
lay would facilitate the closing of the passages beyond,
as well as rendering it more difficult to move them
back.
The entrance into the sarcophagus chamber of the
Hawara tomb was by means of a passage, the southern
end of which led by a well into a super chamber
above the sepulchre. In this super chamber rested
the northern roofing slab of the chamber in which the
two sarcophagi were placed. This, when lowered
into place, blocked the end of the passage, leaving
a small space at the top to enable the workmen to
escape. The passage was then blocked up with
masonry in order to conceal it.
We have somewhat the same idea in the southern
Mazghuneh pyramid. The passage marked P (pi. xl)
corresponds with passage P in the Hawara tomb(pl.xli)
and also led to the sarcophagus chamber. The item
of a well at the bottom of this passage was omitted,
as it was at a much lower level.
The sarcophagus was intended to be roofed by
two slabs of quartzite, one of which, the southern, was
in place and cemented down. The other had never
been closed, and projected only 9 inches beyond the
inner face of the sarcophagus (pi. xli). This block
7
THE SOUTH PYRAMID OF MAZGHUNEH
SO
was constructed so as to slide along on the top of the
sarcophagus until it met its fellow at the south.
There was plenty of room to allow the sealers of the
tomb to effect this, as a gang could be engaged inside
passage P to push the block, whilst additional help
could be rendered inside the sarcophagus chamber.
The workmen engaged in the latter task could easily
escape when the sarcophagus was closed by an aper¬
ture in the south wall of the great northern chamber,
just above the movable block. This aperture, as well
as the space left at the end of the passage, would then
have been sealed with masonry, so as to conceal all
trace of the roofing slab and present a blank wall to a
possible plunderer.
The fact that this tomb was not properly closed
must have led to an early detection of the position of
the sarcophagus. The thieves when they entered the
great northern chamber must have been struck with
the presence of the quartzite block in the southern
wall, and found it a comparatively easy task to break
through the 41 £ inches of limestone wall over it and
so reach the burial chamber. My chief reason for
supposing that this block had never been put into
place was the great width of the opening. The diffi¬
culty in opening it so far would have been enormous
in such a confined space as the sarcophagus chamber.
The sole object of the people who re-entered the
tomb would have been to procure plunder, and by
moving the block, say 28 inches instead of 52 inches,
a space wide enough to admit a person would have
been made.
The slope of the top of the roofing slab is difficult
to understand. The surface here was extremely
rough and the angle is not uniform. Small pieces
of quartzite which must have come from this slab
were found in the vicinity, and one can only suppose
that attempts were made to remove or break up the
block when the pyramid was in course of being
demolished.
Neither is it easy to realize the meaning of the
two false passages east and west of the sarcophagus.
These were certainly filled with masonry in order to
hamper investigation, but the presence of quartzite at
their ends was bound to give a clue as to the where¬
abouts of the burial place.
There was an aperture of 2 to 3 inches between
the tops of the quartzite slabs on each side of the
sarcophagus and the roofs of the two false passages.
These could not have been closed by the roofing slab,
as the width of the latter was less than that of the
sepulchre and slabs combined. It was probably
intended, when the sarcophagus was closed, to fill
the space between the sloping sides of the roofing
slab and the masonry that took the thrust of the
pent-roof (pi. xl (S)) with stonework in order to
conceal this defect Otherwise the chamber above
could easily have been entered in both passages by
cutting away a small portion of the roof.
It must be regarded as certain that when the
thieves broke into the pyramid they made their way
direct to the great northern chamber, and thence into
the sarcophagus. After doing this, they, or a later
gang, found and examined the two false passages on
the east and west, and, realizing what they were, left
them alone.
We searched the ground over a large area inside
and outside of the wavy wall in the hopes of finding
royal catacombs such as are present near the southern
brick pyramid of Dahshur. The desert was also care¬
fully examined on the east as far as the cultivation in
view of a pyramid temple or a causeway, but all with
negative results. It is certainly strange to find this
pyramid so isolated, for no trace even of a xiith-dynasty
cemetery was found in the vicinity, despite the special
efforts made in search of one.
CHAPTER XIV
THE NORTH PYRAMID OF MAZGHUNEH
By ERNEST MACK A Y
71. A LITTLE over a quarter of a mile north of
the southern Mazghuneh pyramid, and just opposite
the Dahshur dyke, is a tract of desert close to the
cultivation, covered with a thick coating of limestone
chips. While we were engaged in testing the ground
in search of traces of a building, a villager informed
me that beneath the rubbish lay a very large tomb,
which had been entered by M. de Morgan about
twenty years ago. Gathering from the man that the
tomb had not been measured, but merely examined, I
decided to open it again, with the result that it proved
in many important respects to be unlike any other
known tomb.
Work was first started by cutting a series of
trenches from without the four sides of the dibris-
covered site to its centre, in the hope of finding traces
of a pyramid ; however not a single block of stone
was met with in situ above ground, and the destruc¬
tion of the pyramid or superstructure seems to have
been quite complete. The whole site however could
THE NORTH PYRAMID OF MAZGHUNEH
51
not be examined, owing to the presence of a small
Coptic cemetery that lies in the middle of it.
During our work on one of the trenches east of
the site we came across a sloping passage, fitted with
steps, that ran due east; and this led by a complex
series of passages and chambers to an empty sarco¬
phagus chamber. A pyramid with an eastern entrance
is quite unknown, and with this in view I searched
the ground on both sides of the beginning of the
passage for an additional way that might lead from
the north or the south.
A portion of such a passage was discovered at
the north of the present entrance, but owing to its
mutilated condition it could not be traced for any
distance (pi. xlvii (A) ). This passage probably took
a right-angled turn to the west until the centre of the
pyramid was reached, followed by another turn to the
north until it reached the open air.
Owing to the lack of ventilation in the tomb, I
was unable to measure one or two of the chambers
with the accuracy that could be desired. The air
inside was indeed so bad that our candles and lamps
could not be induced to burn properly, and this
hindered our work to a marked degree. The roofing
blocks of the whole tomb were quite complete, and
on these rested many feet of sand and rubbish. On
top of this again was the cemetery, the last burial in
this being twenty years ago.
72. Present Entrance Passage. Pis. xlvii
(A). The portion of this passage was 38 inches wide
and 179* inches long, as far as it could be measured.
It was provided with ten steps averaging 21 inches
wide, 17 inches deep, and 3| inches high. On each
side of the steps there was a plain slope of paving
8£ inches wide. The form of its northern end
suggests that a right-angled turn was taken to the
west. The southern end of the passage had a
portion of its side walls remaining ; these were about
60 inches high. The passage was built on a slope,
the inclination being 25 £ inches in 50 inches base,
or 27 0 .
At the south end of the steps there was a drop of
6* inches on to a platform I02f inches long east to
west, and 32 inches wide north to south. Beyond
this was another drop into a sloping passage running
due west (pi. xlvii (B)). A platform similar to the
first was placed on the southern side of this.
Passage (B) was quite complete, with the excep¬
tion of two of its roofing blocks at the eastern end.
The angle of its slope was 13 0 30', and it was fitted
with thirty-one steps that average 21 inches wide,
15 inches deep, and 3! inches high. These steps were
cut in the paving, and not built There was a plain
length of paving for 149 inches from its eastern end,
and also a strip of smooth paving, 8J inches wide,
down each side of the stairway. The number of
roofing blocks in position was thirteen, and these are
in width from top to bottom as follows: 35 inches,
37. 38$, 38$, 39*, 47. 45. 43*. 42, 42, 44, 44*. 53*-
The masonry work of these and the side walls
of the passage was very good, the joints being set
very close. On the southern wall of the passage
close to the entrance were two charcoal drawings.
These are shown on pi. xlix (bottom). Owing to
its proximity to the open air I was enabled to
measure this passage to a tenth of an inch, and its
dimensions are as follows : Vertical height of entrance,
75‘9 inches north wall, 76 4 inches south wall ; height
of middle 75'5 inches N., 76 0 inches S.; height at
west end 749 inches N., 75-6 inches S. Width of
entrance, east: 38-6 inches bottom, 38-4 inches top ;
middle 38 6 inches B., 38 5 inches T.; west 38-4 inches
B, 38 5 inches T.
The height and width of the passage thus
agree with the entrance passage of the Hawara
pyramid.
At the western end of the steps there was a
slight dip of sh inches, and the passage continued
with a plain paving for 175 inches further. The
eastern half of this plain paving was set at a slight
angle. The passage here was intended to be closed
by a door, the sockets for which were found in the
paving and roof on the northern side of the passage.
Another socket for the bolt of the door is cut in a
slight recess on the southern side of the passage,
39J inches above the pavement (pi. xlviii).
73. First Plug Chamber (pis. xlvii, xlviii (C)).
The end of the passage entered a chamber 77J
inches long E.-W., and 63J inches wide N.-S. (floor
level). Its height was 149J inches. On the north of
this there was a recess, 64 inches from the floor, which
held a large plug block of quartzite roughly dressed,
measuring 177 (?) inches long, 79 inches wide, and
70J inches high. The length, width, and height of
the recess was 117 (?) inches, 84 inches, and 85 inches
at its southern end. The length of neither the recess
nor the plug block could be very accurately found,
owing to the latter occupying all the available space
of the former. The pavement of the recess upon
which the portcullis or plug block rested, was built
on a slant of 5* inches in 50, the incline being from
north to south.
THE NORTH PYRAMID OF MAZGHUNEH
5*
The plug block was found open, and had never
been moved since it was placed in the recess pre¬
pared for it Part of its western edge was resting on
a quartzite slide, on which it was intended to be
slipped down. A portion of this slide forms part of
the pavement of the passage (D) west of it, which
was 64^ inches above the paving of chamber (C).
Sections showing the plug block in its present
condition, and also closed, are shown on pi. xlviii.
The quartzite stone is shown in every case by
shading.
It will be seen that the chamber agrees in design
with the portcullis chambers in the southern Maz-
ghuneh pyramid. The short passage on the west of
the chamber (pi. xlvii (D)), was 62J inches long, and
38 inches wide. Its pavement was not horizontal,
but dipped inches to the west, with a slope through
its entire length. The height of the passage there¬
fore was 55 inches at the east, and 62£ inches at the
west The roof was constructed of a solid block of
quartzite, the ends of which are seen as lintels in
chambers (C) and (E).
After leaving the passage, the chamber (E) was
reached. It was covered with three roofing blocks,
30J, 66J, and 115J inches in width, the slabs being
placed from E. to W. The dimensions of the chamber
are: north side, 93-8 inches bottom, 94 8 inches top ;
south side, 93-8 inches B., 95 0 inches T.; east side,
116 3 inches B., n6’o inches T. The height taken
at the corners are: N.E. 93-5 inches, N.W. 93-2,
S.E. 93.8, S.W. 93’2.
In the S.W. corner of the chamber was the door¬
way of a passage 58 inches long, 38 inches wide, and
83 inches high. This doorway was surmounted by a
lintel block of quartzite, the exposed face of which
was 69$ inches long and 30J inches high. A roofing
block and the western side wall of the chamber
prevented full measurements being taken of the
stone.
74. Second Plug Chamber (pi. xlvii. (F)). On
eaving this passage a second plug chamber was
entered, 69J inches long, 60 inches wide at pavement
level, and 147J inches high. East of this chamber,
57 inches from the pavement, was a recess 117 inches
x 76J inches x 90J inches. This held a quartzite
plug block of a smaller size than the one in chamber
(C), the dimensions of it being 1 i6i x 66f x 70J inches.
The stone, which was but roughly dressed, was found
in its original position. In the block are a number
of big flaws that were originally filled in with
plaster.
The form of the chamber is similar in every way
to chamber C, and therefore does not need to be
described in full.
The length of the plug block and its recess I was
able to measure, as the S.W. corner of the chamber
C was partially destroyed, and admitted entry to the
back of the recess of the second plug chamber.
The way into the tomb from this apartment was
by means of a short passage (G), 62J inches long
by 38! inches wide The pavement of this at its
northern end was 56J inches above the floor of the
plug chamber. The height of the passage was 58
inches at the north, and 53 J inches at the south..
The difference in height is accounted for by the
floor sloping towards the north, with an opposite
inclination to that of the passage (D). The roof was
a single block of quartzite well dressed on its under
side.
North of this passage was a large chamber (H),
194 inches long, 99 inches wide, and 84 inches high.
The pavement of this had been torn up in places by
searchers for a non-existent hiding-place beneath it.
West of this apartment was a stairway that entered
a long corridor 0 ) running due north. The level
of the first step was 29 inches below the pavement
of the chamber ; the drop was rendered less difficult
by two narrow steps, 19£ inches wide, cut in the
paving on the southern side of the chamber. At
the west of the stairway was a narrow bench 11 £
inches deep, the western wall being set back for
the purpose. This was ij inch higher than the
pavement east of the steps.
The inclination of the stairway was 22 inches
in 50 base, or 24 0 , the steps averaging i6£ inches
wide, 16 inches deep, and 6| inches high. They
were cut in the floor and not built. The plain strip
of paving on each side of the stairway was 8$ inches
wide. The top step was plain and 23£ inches deep.
There is some doubt about the bottom step, as a large
piece of paving from the chamber above was tightly
wedged here, and I could not get the stone removed
to examine the step beneath. The long corridor (J)
was 328 inches long, and roofed with eight blocks.
These measure from the north 43, 43, 40, 39J, 39^,
42, 43, and 37 inches. The side walls were of two
courses, the stones being very finely fitted. Measure¬
ments of the passage could not be taken at its southern
end, for we could not reach this, as the block of stone
was lying at the foot of the stairway. The dimensions
of the middle and northern end are here given:
height and width of passage, 667 east, 667 west,
SARCOPHAGUS
S3
39 0 bottom, 38 - 9 top; north end of passage, 66 8 east,
66 6 west, 38 2 bottom, 38'8 top.
The corridor communicated with the plug chamber
(F), as the walling, which separates the two, was
partially destroyed. This enabled me to find the
difference between the two pavement levels of the
former and the latter. The paving of the passage
was found to be 2\ inches below the pavement of
the second plug chamber. The north end of the
passage communicated with a chamber (K) 130 inches
long x 105! inches wide x 93J inches high. This
was roofed with three stones and part of a fourth^
measuring in width from E. to W. 15J, 35$, 39J, and
41 inches. The side walls were of two courses. At
the N.W. comer of this there was a short passage (L)
81 inches x 38^ X 62the roof of which was covered
by a practically square block of quartzite 82^ inches
long x 311 inches thick.
75. Sarcophagus Chamber (pis. xlvii, xlviii).
This chamber was 360J inches long and 105 inches
wide, and contained the sarcophagus at its southern
end. The latter was cut out of a monolithic block of
quartzite, the outside measurements of which were
187 x 103^ x 72 inches. A portion of this block ran
in under the southern end wall of the chamber.
The place set apart for the body was at the north
end of the block and measures as follows : north side,
37-6 inches wide at bottom, 37-4 inches wide at top;
south side, 37-4 B., 37 2 T.; east side, 937 long B.,
93 9 inches T.; west side, 94-1 long B., 94 3 T. The
depth taken at the four corners is N.E. 46'1, N.W.
46-4, S.E. 46’I, S.W. 46’4. North of this was a square
compartment for the canopic jars, measuring: north
side, 26'9 T.; south, 26‘6 T.; east, 26'4 T.; west, 26 2 T.
The bottom dimensions of this could not be found.
The depth at the comers was: N.E. 29-9, N.W. 30-4,
S.E. 299, S.W. 30 3.
There was a space of 33 inches between the
inside face of the receptacle for the body and the
eastern face of the sarcophagus block ; 9J inches of
stone separated the two compartments for the body
and the canopic jars. The sarcophagus was set
square, and level in the chamber, the space between
the side walls and the block was only f of an inch.
This was filled up with cement to hide the joint. The
exposed faces of the sarcophagus were very well
finished, the surface of the stone being rubbed down
smooth. When this had been done the stone was
covered with a thin coating of red-coloured plaster,
the reason of which is difficult to understand, as there
were no flaws to conceal.
Two slots, perhaps for plugs, were cut on each side
of the burial place, at its northern end 3 and 4 inches
deep. Similar holes would doubtless be found on
the under side of the cover to agree with these.
The lid lay at the north end of the chamber, the
southern end of it projecting 5 inches beyond the
northern end of the sarcophagus. This was better
finished than the stone it was intended to cover, and
its surface was almost polished. It will be noticed
in the plan, pi. xlviii, that it lies on a slight slope to
facilitate running it into place. It rested on two
limestone beds 24 inches wide at the west and
35 inches at the east. These beds can be seen on
the plan at the northern end of the chamber. The
cover measures 166J inches long x 102^ inches wide
and was 30^ inches thick at its two ends, thus being
less wide by one inch than the sarcophagus.
The lid is of the usual rounded type, with a flat
along each side of 9! inches, and square block ends
176 inches wide. The thickness of the lid at the
ends is 20 inches.
On the eastern side of the lid, close to its ends, are
two slots 14 inches long, and 3^ inches wide. Doubt¬
less there also exist two on the western side. The
eastern slots, owing to their being filled in with dirt,
were not seen in time to examine the western side of
the lid before it was covered with rubbish.
The chamber above the burial place was pent-
roofed for 177^ inches long from the south, and 134
inches high from the sarcophagus to the apex. North
of this the roof was flat and 37 inches lower. This
flat roofing was set at the same angle as the lid of the
sarcophagus, and is therefore parallel with it
An elaborate arrangement existed in this chamber
for shutting off half of its length, when the lid had
been pushed into place. This took the form of a
sliding door, or plug block of quartzite, which rested
in a recess on the west side of the chamber, pis. xlvii,
xlviii. When found, the block was not wholly resting
on the slanting floor of its recess, but its eastern base
was raised 9$ inches and rested on some small lime¬
stone blocks irregularly shaped. A small vertical
niche was cut on the opposite side of the sarcophagus
chamber to receive the sliding block, and a groove
connecting the two recesses was cut in the roof to
guide the block when it was to be drawn along. The
size of the block is 126J (?) inches long x 103 inches
high x 24 inches thick, and its recess 132J inches
long x 1174 inches high x 26 inches wide.
At the base of the eastern end of the block was a
notch cut in the stone measuring 7± inches deep and
54
THE NORTH PYRAMID OF MAZGHUNEH
6$ inches high. This must have been cut to facilitate
the insertion of a lever beneath the block in order to
move it into place
A laj-ge slab of quartzite 163 inches long x 63
inches high x 34$ inches thick was set up on its edge
to form a slide for the block to run down on. The
southern face of this was cemented to the northern
outside face of the sarcophagus, and was also sup¬
ported originally by its two ends which were built in
solid limestone masonry. A large space has been
excavated by treasure-seekers beneath the lid, and
only one end is now fixed.
The finish of the pent-roof portion of the chamber
was much finer than that of the flat roof; the tool
employed for the work was apparently a pick, the
marks running diagonally from left to right, and
measuring J of an inch in width. The recesses for
the plug block were roughly dressed, as they would
not be seen when the block was home. The southern
end wall of the sarcophagus chamber has a small
doorway that leads down by a short passage (N) into
a long chamber (O) running E.-W. The roof of this
is of the same level as the passage. This doorway is
provided with a narrow recess 2J inches deep on its
two sides and on the top, for the purpose evidently of
receiving a thin slab of stone. It will be perceived
from the plan, pi. xlviii, that the bottom of the
chamber wall here recedes for 3-6 inches in order
to accommodate the butt end of the sarcophagus
cover.
The widths of the stones that form the roof of the
chamber are, from the north, 15, 40, 43, 42£, 39$ for
the flat roof, and pent-roof 36, 25$, 34, 41, and 40J
inches. It will be seen from the southern section of
the chamber that the pent-roof does not start from
the level of the top surface of the sarcophagus. The
eastern and western walls of the chamber at this
point are vertical for 30£ and 31 inches respectively
before the roofing blocks begin to meet one another.
76. The passage (N) was 46 inches long, 27J
inches wide, and 26 inches high. A portion of its
pavement was formed by the northern end of the
sarcophagus, which projected into the passage for
i6j inches. The floor of chamber (O) was 59 inches
below the pavement level of the passage, and 85
inches in height altogether. The length and the
breadth were 185 and 58^ inches respectively.
The finer measurements are : north wall, 184-9 T.;
south wall, 184-8 T.; east wall, 58-4 T., 58-1 B.; west
wall, 58 4 T., 58-5 B. ; north-east corner, 851, N.VV.
85-1, S.E. 843, S.W. 848. The side walls of the
chamber were of three courses, and three slabs formed
the roof.
77. All of the exposed faces of the quartzite
stones in this tomb, including the plug blocks, had
once been painted red. On many of the blocks also
were drawn several series of vertical strokes in black
upon the red surface, as shown at bottom of pi. 1.
The thickness of these marks average '5 inch, their
edges in most cases being ill defined. Their length
was 7-5 inches and the space between them 4-15
inches. Each series of strokes was contained be¬
tween fine horizontal lines. It is difficult to explain
why only the quartzite blocks should have been
selected for this purpose, the marking not being
found on any limestone masonry. It could hardly
have been for the purpose of ornamentation, because
it occurs on the ends of the plug blocks which would
be concealed in their recesses when the chamber was
closed. Similarly the northern outside face of the
sarcophagus was also marked, and I could not have
seen this if the limestone bed, upon which the lid
rested, had not been destroyed.
Another curious feature in this tomb was the
presence of a quantity of fine sandy earth that
partially filled chamber (H) and the sarcophagus
chamber. This must have been purposely brought
in from the outside, or have fallen in when the tomb
was in course of building and not been removed.
A parallel case is a quantity of marl that was
observed in the passage chamber of the pyramid of
Illahun.
78. We cannot say for whom this tomb was
intended, for no trace of a name was found in the
building, but, as we have noted, the presumption is
that it was for Amenemhat IV or his immediate
successor. It is also difficult to decide whether the
tomb was ever in use, for though no bones or offer¬
ings were found in the burial chamber, and the
plug blocks were not closed, yet the fact that the
wall between chamber (F) and passage (J) was
broken would suggesWhat plunderers found chamber
(H) blocked up when they entered it, or they
would hardly have taken the trouble to cut through
32A inches of stonework if they could have gone
round.
The plug blocks with their chambers resemble
those in the southern Mazghuneh pyramid to a
marked degree, a fact which would date this tomb
to a period just before or after the former was built.
It is difficult to imagine how these plugs were in¬
tended to be moved, for they must have weighed
SURROUNDINGS
55
42 tons (C) and 24 tons (F). There were no grooves
for attaching ropes to them similar to those in the
Hawara pyramid. Both blocks were quite plain
with the exception of a slot 14! x 3J x £ inches
on the western side and close to the southern top
corner of the plug in chamber (C). This had a
small piece of copper or bronze adhering to the
bottom of it, evidently a portion of the edge of a
chisel. The walls of both plug chambers were fairly
smooth and had been dressed with a pointed pick,
the marks running diagonally down from left to
right. Traces of a very thin coating of plaster still
remained on their walls in many places.
The wall under the southern recess in chamber
(C) had a large hole in it, which enabled me to crawl
in and inspect the back of the masonry. A quarry
mark was seen on the sides of one of the stones
here; a tracing of this is shown in the middle of
pi. xlix.
79. As mentioned before, the pyramid that once
existed above this tomb was entirely demolished,
and the material of which it was built was removed
from the site. It would seem however that it had
been entirely constructed of stone, for little or no
traces of broken brick remain. It would have been
quite impossible to remove a brick pyramid without
leaving some of its material behind. At present the
site is quite bare with the exception of the limestone
ddbris that encumbers the ground. I also searched
the ground around the site in order to see if any
portion of a peribolos wall existed, but without
result There was a long brick wall, marked (A)
in pi. xlix, on the N.E. of the site, with its axis
running N-S., that was first thought to be a part
of a peribolos wall, but it afterwards proved to be a
retaining wall to hold up a quantity of rubbish in
order to level the site. This wall was 37J inches
thick and 606 inches long. It was in twelve courses
at its highest point, and was constructed of brick
made with straw, in alternate layers of stretchers
and headers. A long causeway once led up to the
structure above the tomb with brick walling on each
side of it at the north and south (pi. xlix). That at the
north was formed of two parallel lengths of walling
(B and C) 460 inches apart, the space between them
being filled up with rubbish in order to make a
solid mass of the whole. To prevent the walls from
bulging, cross walls 64$ inches thick united the main
ones at irregular intervals. The widths of the two
main walls are 94 inches N. and 57 inches S. re¬
spectively.
The southern causeway wall was also made of
two parallel structures filled with cUbris (D and E).
This was 38 inches less in the thickness than the
northern wall. There were no cross walls on this
side.
The southern face of the thin wall (B) stands
66 inches high in one place, and has a batter of
8 inches. The northern face of wall (C) was vertical.
The causeway was 1722 inches wide and 4584
inches long, as far as we could trace. The axis of
this was 136 inches north of the axis of the present
entrance passage of the tomb. The latter was
1431 inches east of the eastern end of the causeway.
During some clearing at the east of the causeway
a large block of stone 67 x 76 x 34 (pi. xlix (F)) was
perceived 277 inches south and 404 inches east of
the end of wall (B). This was the only large block
of stone met with on the whole site, excepting of
course those with which the tomb was built.
INDEX
Abu Shalbyah cemetery, 37
Agate uza eyes, 36
Akhet-hotep, jars of, 36
Alabaster duck vessels, 45
kohl pots, 41
toilet spoon, 27
vases, 27
Amenemhat III, figures of, 29, 31
name of, 32
IV, pyramid of, 37, 49, 54
Amenhotep III cowroid, 26
Animal bones placed in burials, 7
Architectural fragments, 32
Ashes in trench, 8
Atet, pottery of, 26
tomb of, 25
Attitudes of burials, 5
Bau i^Fayum, 32
Beads of copper, 40
of vith dynasty, 38, 40
of xxvth dynasty, 36
prehistoric, 7, 22
Bebut, burial of, 35
Bia-ne-pet, haematite and iron, 19
Bilbil flasks, 28
Bones broken up at the funeral, 26, 40
dissevered in ritual, 12
Bricks, sizes of, 47, 48
Bronze tools, 28
Bucranion on a shrine, 32
Building, season of, 48
Burials, all single, 5
attitudes of, 5
direction of, 5
in pot, 5
plastered over with mud, 4
prehistoric, 4-8
Bushe-Fox, Mr., 1
Calcite beads, 22
Canopic jars in tombs, 35, 36
Carnelian beads, 40
pendant pebbles, 22, 23
Causeway to Labyrinth, 33
Mazghuneh pyramid, 55
Cemetery of Gerzeh, x
Chalcedony, burnt, 22
Charcoal drawing in pyramid, 44
China grass, 6
Chisels of wood, 40
Clay models of burials, 27
Clothing on bodies, 7
Columns, dimensions of, 32
Copper harpoon, 5
tray, 24
Couch, model of xiith-dynasty, 35
Cow’s head palette, 22
Crocodiles, figures of, 31
Dates of building, 48
Deshasheh, reconstructed burials at, 14, 15
Diodoros, 29, 30
Direction of burials, 5
Dismemberment described in Book of the Dead, 11
in pyramid texts, 11-15
of bodies, 8-11
Door in mastaba, 25
Dove, blue-glazed, 36
Duck dishes, 45
Electrum mountings, 27
Eyes painted on coffin, 35
Feet removed from bodies, 10
Finger bones buried apart, 8, 10
in ashes, 8
Fire altars, 34
Fish-bearing goddesses, 31
57
8
INDEX
58
Flesh buried in pots, 7
cut off in ritual, 12
Flint flakes, 21, 23
knives, 22
Fly amulets, 22
Forehead pendants, 23
Foundation, burials under, 33
deposit, 24
Galena, 5, 24
Garnet beads, 22
Gerzeh, description of cemetery, 1
position of El, I
xviiith-dynasty cemetery, 26
Goddesses with fishes, 31
Gold beads, 15, 16, 22
standards of weight of, 36, 37
tongue plates, 36, 37
Graffiti of workmen, 48
Graves, prehistoric, 4
Gypsum amulet, 22
Haematite, bia-ne-pet , 19
Harpoon, copper, 5
Hathor cow’s-head palette, 22
statue of, 31
Head, removed from dead, 11
Herodotos, 29, 30, 34
Hont-nofert, figure of, 36
Horn of pottery, 23
Infant sacrifice, 10
Iron beads, 8, 15, 16
examples of, found in Egypt, 19
native, 18
sources of, 17
Ivory hairpins, 23
kohl pot, 28
pot, 23
spoons, 21, 23, 24
Jasper, scarabs of black, 36
Ka figures, 36
of Ramessu III, 36
Khau in Fayum, 32
Knuckle-bone carved in ivory, 27
Korn Amar, 39
el Hawa cemetery, 37
es Sunt, 39
Sheykh Karamid, 40
Labyrinth, restoration of, 29, 30
ruins of, 29
Lamp bowls, 34, 45, 46
Lamps, 27, 34
Lates Niloticus bones, 27
Lazuli beads, 22
Local worships of Fayum, 32
Macehead, pear-shaped, 5
Mackay, Mr. E., work of, 37—5 5
Malachite, 5, 22
Man’s legs buried under foundation, 34
Marble balls, 23
Marl heap, 33
Mastaba of Nefermaat, 25
Mazghuneh pyramids, 37, 41-55
Mert-neter in Fayum, 32
Meydum, outline of work at, I, 24
search for lower temple at, 24
tunnel under pyramid, 25
Mirror of bronze, 37, 38, 40
Model coffin and mummy, 27
couch of xiith dynasty, 35
Models of pyramids, 35
of vases, 21
Mud filling of tomb, 26
Mummy wrappings re-used, 35
Mutilation described in Book of the Dead, 11
in pyramid texts, 11-15
of bodies, 8-11
Nefermaat, mastaba of, 25
Obsidian flake, 24
Orientation of burials, 5
Onyx beads, 22
Palestine, child sacrifices in, 11
Palettes, 22
Palm goddess statue, 31
Pectoral, blue-glazed, 36
Pedubast scarab, 27
Pek standard of gold, 36
Pendant for forehead, 23
pebbles, 22
Pesh-ken, 24
Plaster facing to chamber, 44
to sarcophagus, 5 3
Porphyry palette, 22
Pot, burial in a, 5
INDEX
59
Pottery, moulded, Roman, 40
new types of, 19
of Atet, iiird dynasty, 26
painted, Roman, 40
sequence dates of, 2-4
Ptah-seker-ausar figures, 27, 28
Ptolemaic inscription of Labyrinth, 30
Pyramid of Hawara, like those of Mazghuneh, 49
model of, 35
of Meydum, coatings of, 25
of Saqqareh, model of, 35
Pyramids of Mazghuneh, 37
northern, 50-55
southern, 41-50
Quartzite sarcophagi, 46, 53
Rattle of pottery, 24
Reconstruction of body at Deshasheh, 14, 15
for future life, 13
Reed mats, 6, 21
Rhamie, 6
Rock-crystal scarabs, 36
Rohes-hotep god, 32
Shoes, models of, 41
Shrines of red granite, 29, 30
Sikhir standard of gold, 37
Silver ring, 27
Sit-rannut, coffin of, 36
Skeletons imperfect, 8-11
Skew weaving, 6
Spearheads, bronze, 28
Steatite, green, beads, 22, 40
Stone vases, 21, 27
Strabo, 29, 30
Syrian clay tablets, 21
pottery in Egypt, 21
Taurt figures, 28
Thothmes III, seal, 26
Tombs in rock of xiith dynasty, 35
Tonga burial of fingers, 10
Tools, bronze, 28
Tree in a shrine, 32
Trench of ashes, 8
Turquoise beads, 22
Ushabtiu, 28, 36
Sarcophagi of quartzite, 46, 53
Sard pebbles, 22
Scarabs, 27
Sebek, figure of, 32
of various places, 31
statues of, 31
Sebekneferu, 30, 37, 49
Seed necklace, 36
Sequence dates, 2-4, 16
additions to system, 3
Serpentine, black, 22
dark green, 24
Sheep bones, 27
Shells, 23, 36
Shishak II, scarab of, 27
Wainwright, Mr. G., outline of work, 1
Wall, wavy, 47
Weaving, prehistoric, 6
Well in Labyrinth, 33
Wheat paste in pots, 7
Woman buried under foundation, 33
Women figures in coffins, 27
Wood in graves, 7
Wooden chisels, 40
door in mastaba, 25
kohl pot, 27
female figure, 36
Yellow marl heap, 33
Printed by Haxell, Wats** & Viney x La. t tendon and Aylesbury .
WORKS BY W. M. FLINDERS PETRIE
THE PYRAMIDS AND TEMPLES OF GIZEH. (Out of print.)*
TANIS L 19 pi., 255. Quaritch.
TANIS IL Nebesheh and Defenneh. 64 pL, 25^. Quaritch.
NAUKRATIS L 45 pL, 25^- Quaritch.
HIEROGLYPHIC PAPYRUS FROM TANIS. (Out of print.)
A SEASON IN EGYPT. 1887. 3* pi- (Out of print.)
RACIAL PORTRAITS. 190 photographs from Egyptian Monuments. (To be printed, 1913.)
HISTORICAL SCARABS. (Out of print.)
HAWARA, BIAHMU, AND ARSINOE. (Out of print.)
KAHUN, GUROB, AND HAWARA. (Out of print.)*
ILLAHUN, KAHUN, AND GUROB. 33 P'-> (Out of print.)*
TELL EL HESY (LACHISH). 10 pi., 1 or. 6 d. Alexander Watt.
MEDUM. 36 pi (Out of print.)
TEN YEARS' DIGGING IN EGYPT, 1881-1891. 6 r. R.T.S.
TELL EL AMARNA. (Out of print.)
KOPTOS. 28 pi., 1 or. Quaritch.
A STUDENT'S HISTORY OF EGYPT. Part I., down to the XVIth Dynasty. 5th ed. ,1903. Part II.,
XVIIth and XVIIIth Dynasties. Part III., XIXth to XXXth Dynasties. 6s. each. Methuen.
TRANSLATIONS OF EGYPTIAN TALES. With illustrations by Tristram Ellis. 2 vols., 3r. 6 d. each. Methtun.
DECORATIVE ART IN EGYPT. 3r. 6 d. Methuen.
NAQADA AND BALLAS. 86 pi., 2sr. Quaritch.
SIX TEMPLES AT THEBES. 26 pi., ior. Quaritch.
DESHASHEH. 37 P 1 -. 25r. Quaritch.
RELIGION AND CONSCIENCE IN EGYPT. 2r. 6 d. Methuen.
SYRIA AND EGYPT. 2r. 6 d. Methuen.
DENDEREH. 38 pi., 2Sr. ; 40 additional plates, ior. Quaritch.
ROYAL TOMBS OF FIRST DYNASTY. 68 pi., 2 5 r. Quaritch.
DIOSPOLIS PARVA. 48 pi. (Out of print.)
ROYAL TOMBS OF EARLIEST DYNASTIES. 63 pi., 25r. ; 35 additional plates, ior. Quaritch.
ABYDOS. Part I. 81 pi., 2sr. Quaritch.
ABYDOS. Part II. 64 pi., 25r. Quaritch.
METHODS AND AIMS IN ARCHAEOLOGY. 66 blocks, 6 s. Macmillan.
EHNASYA. 25r. Quaritch.
ROMAN EHNASYA. ior. Quaritch.
RESEARCHES IN SINAI. 186 illustrations and 4 plans, 2ir. John Murray.
MIGRATIONS. Huxley Lecture, 1906. 11 pi., 2r. 6 d. Anthropological Institute.
HYKSOS AND ISRAELITE CITIES. 40 pi., 2sr. Quaritch. (With 48 extra plates, 45r., out of print.)
RELIGION OF ANCIENT EGYPT, ir. Constable.
GIZEH AND RIFEH. 40 pi., 25r.; with 69 extra plates, 501. Quaritch.
ATHRIBIS. 43 pl-» 2sr. Quaritch. (Out of print.)
PERSONAL RELIGION IN EGYPT BEFORE CHRISTIANITY. 2r. 6 d. ; in leather , 3r. 6 d. Harper.
MEMPHIS. Part I. 54 pi., 25r. Quaritch.
QURNEH. 56 pi., 25r. Quaritch. (Out of print.)
THE PALACE OF APRIES (MEMPHIS II). 35 pi., 2sr. Quaritch.
ARTS AND CRAFTS IN ANCIENT EGYPT. 45 pL, 5r. Foulis.
THE GROWTH OF THE GOSPELS. 2r. 6 d. Murray.
MEYDUM AND MEMPHIS (III). 47 pi., 25r. Quaritch.
EGYPT AND ISRAEL. 54 figs. 2r. 6 d. S.P.C.K.
HISTORICAL STUDIES. 25 pi., 2Sr. Quaritch.
REVOLUTIONS OF CIVILISATION. 57 figs. 2r. 6 d. Harper.
THE FORMATION OF THE ALPHABET. 9 pl*. 5*- Quaritch.
ROMAN PORTRAITS AND MEMPHIS IV. 32 pl., 2 S r. Quaritch.
Of works marked * a few copies can be had on application to the Author, University College, London.
EL GERZEH. PRE-DYNASTIC MUD COVERED BURIALS.
II
2 : a
EL GERZEH. IRON BEAD GROUPS-
IV
2 : 3 MODEL STONE VASES
1 : 2 TOMB GROUP. 133.
2 : 1 IRON BEADS, NO. 67.
3 : 4 TOMB GROUP. NO. 67.
2: i
2 : 3
2 :3
2 t 3 PORPHYRY PALETTE AND RUBBER
1 : 3 TOMB GROUP 142.
EL GERZEH. PRE-DYNASTIC VASES ETC,
s:6 MUD VASES, RATTLE, FOREHEAD PENDANT
AND KOHL-STICK.?
5 : 6 CARVED SLATE.
EL GERZEH. POLISHED RED POTTERY P.
1:6
EL GERZEH. WAVY HANDLED POTTERY, W.
XI.
LATE POTTERY. L.
FANCY FORMS, F.
1:400
EL GERZEH. PRE-DYNASTIC CEMETERY.
XIII.
G.W.
1 : 3 TOMB GROUP 78, XVIII OVNASTY.
1 . 3 ALABASTER VASES, XVIII DYN.
1 : 3 MODEL MUD BURIALS. XVIII DYN.
' f,
MEYDUM. BRONZES
XXII DYN. STELE AND BEADS, XVIII DYN
2 : 3 PTAH-SOKAR, XXII D
2 : 3 STELE, XVIII DYNASTY
HAWARA. GRANITE SHRINE OF AMENEMHAT
HAWARA. LABYRINTH. STATUES OF HATHOR AND SEBEK.
XXIV
1 : 5
HAWARA. LABYRINTH. HEAD-DRESS, KING, PALM GODDESS.
XXV
XXVII
HAWARA. LABYRINTH. COLOSSAL FOOT, SEBEKS WITH NAMES
XXVIII
HAWARA. LABYRINTH. FIRE ALTARS AND INSCRIPTIONS
m?-'
]
' t pm
fW - *
. * •• y
ML >'•! i
!
HAWARA LABYRINTH. COLUMNS, SCULPTURE. XXIX
HAWARA. GROUP TOMB 58, USHABTIS. XII DYNASTY.
XXX
\o-
V-*v;
~ -<• C . . V -
•_ u v •. *
,V •
■ V
r-\i. V:
' ^ Sx - •
' v'
2>S
3S
K4
HAWARA CANOPICS AND MACE, XII DYN. PECTORAL AND BEADS.
XXXI
wwmir
1: tOOO
HAWARA. SITE OF LABYRINTH.
XXXI
565~=4-/iqxI 41 42.=Vioxh40 69l = 'A*LM 10JZ = V4*K£ -67S--'Ax h35
SHEKEL 8-35”-8lO GRMS. '/6=SIKHI R 1-39
HAWARA. ROCK TOMBS, XIIth DYNASTY.
XXXVII.
xi M
^ I
v\\\W\\\'-
C Canopic ht-d-dLs
vases.
^\\\\ \
I S
I S
1
-4S
yj
SECTION
»ilVe«K~=iBl«a=5S;iai:E««SSi@p5sf( S
MsUUnitt fi
W.ll "jSLLJi JJ '/'/.'///. ^
y/A-^fi 4 -^t§i fj
-> Y >/// c . A J
Inscriptions onCoffin D ,Tomb 6 4-.
.SECT, i
MAZGHUNEH. SOUTH PYRAMID AND TEMENOS WALL.
PLANS AND SECTIONS OF PASSAGE TRAP-DOORS
SECTION • III
NORTHERN plo& block
SOUTHERN PLU& BLOCK
1 f*' ‘i\U '
■
MAZGHUNEH. SOUTH
wmm smm
Wmaam.
o Y>V
>\sv 1 .\\\K///////j
REAT NORTHERN CHAMBER
PASSAGE
v-s\\^* oof)n g\\n V,V n \\ s\\
^ s b L0 e4t^\X^.
•'\ 5\\>S\'VAV-a^sss'ss $\\\ ^v-ssssssv
!>K\^\ >s\'\s'\'
1 V \ ' s\ ' s s A 0 0 FIN 0^\Jv
IV >\s s^\'-ft 1 nr k'V ^ ,\^ ^
K> y\,\'0\ x “ LOC y'w
^\S \X''S V NNN t * ^
SECTION IV
LONG EASTERN PASSAGE
aovssvd
WM
.wastt a
D
o
<cL
-i xuj
^ ft. CD
- f ° £
, s o<
I Uijl
! O *o
</) u.
O
J I w
< $*>
* O r
^ OL <
fi 'flu
PASSA
MAZGHUNEH. SOUTH PYRAMID, SARCOPHAGUS AND CHAPEL. XLI.
EAST SECTION OF SARCOPHAGUS CHAMBER SOUTH SECTION
PLAN
STONE STOOL, XVIII DVN. ?
UNFINISHED STONE STOOL, XVIII DYN.7
SOUTHERN END OF TOMB,
SET OF 12 DRAUGHTSMEN, XVIII DYN
iv
NORTHERN END OF TOMB
® O
%
MAZGHUNEH. SOUTH PYRAMID.
SOUTHERN WAVY WALL.
STEPS AT NORTH OF EASTERN PASSAGE
-V V, V-
&
MAZGHUNEH. SOUTH PYRAMID CHAPEL
LOOKING NORTH.
LOOKING WEST.
LOOKING SOUTH.
MAZGHUNEH.
XLVI
YMtmimfitiws/tinff;/'v*
BPLU& BLOCK
ISARCOPHA&u S LI 01
^mSARcoPHAeu.
IPLU& BLOCKi
EAST SECTION Of PLUG CHAMBER.
SHOWING PLUG CLOSED.
PI UG BLOCK;
NORTH SECTION Of PLUG CHAMBER
showing plug in situ.
WEST SECTION Of SARCOPHAGUS CHAMBER SHOWING LID IN SITU
PLUG CHAMBER
north section of plug chamber
Showing plug closed.
west section of sarcophagus chamber showing lio upon sarcophagus
1000
MAZGHUNEH. NORTH PYRAMID AND CAUSEWAY.
MAZGHUNEH MAP,
DYNASTY OBJECTS.
1:150
r U-'
Y PUBLICATIONS
OF THE
EGYPTIAN RESEARCH ACCOUNT
I.
II.
III.
IV.
V.
VI.
VII.
VIII.
IX.
X.
XI.
XII.
XIII.
XIV.
XV.
XVI.
XVII.
XVIII.
XIX.
XX.
XXI.
XXIL
L
BALLAS. 1895 ; by J- I 7 - Ouibf.ll. (Out of print; obtainable in joint
volume NAQADA AND BALLAS. by W, M. F. Petrie.)
THE RAMESSEUM, 1896 ; by J. F.. Quibell. (Out of print.)
EL KAB, 1897 ; by J. E. Quibeld.
HIERAKONPOLIS I, 1898 ; text by W. M. F. P. 43 plates. 205 . net,
HIERAKONPOLIS II, 1899 ; by F. W. Green and J. F. Quibeu..
39 plates (4 coloured and 20 photographic). 355. net.
EL ARABAH, 1900 ; by J. Garstang. 40 plates. 16 s. net. (Out of print.)
MAHASNA, 1901 ; by J. Garstang and Kurt Setiie. 43 plates. (Out of print.)
TEMPLE OF THE KINGS, 1902 ; by A. St. G. Caulkeild.
24 plates. 165. net. (Out of print.)
THE OSIREION, 1903; by Margaret A. Murray. 37 plates.
SAQQARA MASTABAS I, 1904.; by M. A. Murray; and
GUROB, by L. Loat. 64 plates. 305. net.
SAQQARA MASTABAS 11,1905; by Hilda Petrie. {In preparation.)
HYKSOS AND ISRAELITE CITIES, 1906 ; by W. M. Funders
Petrie and J. Gar row Duncan. 40 plates. 25 s. net. In double volume
with 94 plates. 455. net. (This latter out of print.)
GIZEH AND RIFEH, 1907 » by W. M. Flinders Petrie. 40 plates.
255. net. In double volume with 109 plates. 505. net.
ATHRIBIS, 1908; by VV. M. Funders Petrie, J. H. Walker and F.. B.
K nobkl. 43 plates. 25 5. net. (Out of print.)
MEMPHIS I, 1908 ; by W. M. F. Petrie & J. 11 . Walker. 54 pis. 255. net.
QURNEH, 1909 L by W. M. F. Petrie & J. H. Walker. 56 plates, (Out of print.)
THE PALACE OF APRIES (MEMPHIS II), 1909 ; by w, M.
Flinders Petrie and J. H. Walker. 35 plates. 25 s. net.
MEYDUM AND MEMPHIS (III), 1910; by W. M. F. Petrie,
F. Mackay, and G. Wainwright. 47 plates. 25 s. net.
HISTORICAL STUDIES. 25 plates. 25 s. net. (Studies, vol. ii.)
ROMAN PORTRAITS (MEMPHIS IV), 1911 ; by W. M. F. Petrie.
35 plates. 255. net.
THE LABYRINTH AND GERZEH ; by W. M. F. Petrie, E. Mackay,
and G. Wainwright. '55. net. {In preparation.)
PORTFOLIO OF HAWARA PORTRAITS. 505. {In preparation.)
Subscriptions of One Guinea for the Annual Single Volumes, or Two
Guineas for the Two Annual Volumes, are received by lhe Hon.
Secretary, at the Edwards Library, University College,
Gower Street, London. IV.C., where also copies
of the above works can be obtained.
Live Music Archive
Librivox Free Audio
Metropolitan Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art
Internet Arcade
Console Living Room
Books to Borrow
Open Library
TV News
Understanding 9/11